Aral Sea Operating Company, the operator of the project to explore for oil and gas in the Uzbek sector of the sea, announced the tender to select the contractor for drilling exploration wells in the contract territory and drilling supervision services this June.

It was reported earlier that plans are to drill two exploration wells in the western section of the contract territory this year. Drilling will commence at the end of November.

Russian PetroAlliance LLC, the general contractor for seismic surveying, performed 2D seismic work in 2007-2008 in the western and central sections of the contract territory, resulting in the identification of four promising structures.

Uzbekneftegaz signed an agreement forming a multinational consortium to conduct geological exploration work in the Uzbek sector of the Aral Sea in September 2005 with Lukoil Overseas Holding, South Korean KNOC and Chinese CNPC. The consortium’s production sharing agreement is for 35 years.

The project will be implemented in three phases. In the first phase, about 3,000 running kilometers of seismic surveying will be performed at a cost of roughly $99.8 million. The second phase will see exploration drilling costing no less than $200 million, while the third phase involves pre-development work at the fields.

The 12,500-square kilometer Aral Sea area contains more than 30 anomalies suggesting the presence of oil and gas.