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“I sincerely hope that we will find a lot of oil and gas in Uzbekistan” - BP representative
The British company BP hopes to find oil and gas in the northeast of the Ustyurt plateau. This was announced by the company’s business development director Michael Fidler in an interview with the Uzbekistan 24 TV channel on the sidelines of the Tashkent International Investment Forum.
According to him, BP works closely with the state oil company of Azerbaijan - SOCAR, which is the operator of the project, as well as with Uzbekneftegaz.
“I sincerely hope that we find a lot of oil and gas here. At the invitation of Mr. President, we work closely with the state oil company of Azerbaijan - SOCAR. They are the operator. We are heading geological exploration work in the northeast of the Ustyurt plateau. We also work very closely with Uzbekneftegaz,” he said.
Michael Fiedler noted that BP is still a new player in Uzbekistan, but has extensive experience in the region.
“We have been working in Azerbaijan together with SOCAR for 30 years and have developed two of the largest fields in the world - one oil, the other gas. They are truly among the largest fields in the world,” a BP spokesman said.
According to him, the company is just beginning to invest in Uzbekistan, so it has not yet disclosed the commercial details of the project.
“But we are investing heavily, and it all starts with seismic research. Together with the SOCAR operator, we conducted seismic surveys over an area of 3,000 square meters. km. This is the initial investment. After this, it is studied whether there is oil and gas there. Then drilling is carried out. Drilling requires even more money. We hope to find oil and gas. Then we’ll talk about big money,” he said.
June 15 Uzbekneftegazreportedabout the meeting of the chairman of the board of the company Abdugani Sanginov with the director of business development of BP Michael Fiedler.
At the meeting, the parties discussed the current state and prospects of joint projects in the Ustyurt region within the framework of a production sharing agreement.
Particular attention was paid to the progress of geological exploration, accelerating the interpretation of geophysical data, as well as issues related to the start of well drilling by the end of 2026.
About the project
Ministry of Energy of Uzbekistan, State Oil Company of Azerbaijan (SOCAR) and Uzbekneftegazsignedproduction sharing agreement (PSA) on July 24, 2025 for a period of five years. The document provides for geological exploration and subsequent production of hydrocarbons in investment blocks of the Ustyurt oil and gas region.
According to the document, search and exploration work, as well as the drilling of at least one exploration well, is planned to be completed within five years. During this period, SOCAR will act as an operator.
Agreementcoversthe Boiterak, Terengkuduk, Birkori, Kharoy, Karakalpak and Kulboy blocks, located in the Ustyurt region of Karakalpakstan. The project will be implemented jointly with Uzbekneftegaz and SOCAR.
In May of this year, B.P.acquireda total of 40 percent participation in the PSA - 20% for each of the existing partners, SOCAR and Uzbekneftegaz. After BP`s entry, the participation shares in the PSA are distributed as follows: BP - 40%, Uzbekneftegaz - 30% and SOCAR - 30% as operator.
After the discovery of deposits in Ustyurt, they will remain the property of Uzbekistan, and according to the agreement, only extracted products will be distributed,statedchief geologist of Uzbekneftegaz Nodir Mukhiddinov. According to him, the country`s economic interests are “well protected” in the agreement.
TV channel "Uzbekistan 24"reportedthat the project is expected to discover 100 million tons of oil and 35 billion cubic meters of natural gas. According to experts, we are talking about “the possible discovery of a large field with huge oil resources.”
A production sharing agreement is an agreement under which a foreign investor receives the right to extract minerals, keeping part of what is extracted for itself; the other part goes to the state. A PSA determines what percentage of oil or gas produced during commercial operation each party will receive after they have reimbursed a certain amount of costs and expenses.
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