The memorandum of understanding inked on Dostluk oil and gas field in the Caspian Sea is a new milestone in the development of relations between Azerbaijan and Turkmenistan.
“Dostluk is a new name of the field that is located on the border of Azerbaijani and Turkmen sectors of the Caspian Sea. It was known as Kepez in Azerbaijan and Sardar in Turkmenistan. The negotiations on the joint development of the field were held before. Today, these talks brought tangible results with the signing of the MoU.
During the Soviet period, Azerbaijani specialists carried out exploratory works there, which show that this field is similar to Karabagh field in terms of reserves. Its reserves can be approved by carrying out modern methods of seismic exploration and probably, exploratory drilling. It is necessary to outline many technical and commercial issues related to the future development of this field. The memorandum is the first step towards reaching this goal. At the same time, it is a new milestone in the history of development of Azerbaijan’s relations with neighboring Turkmenistan, which is a brotherly country from an ethnic and confessional viewpoint. There is a great potential for the development of relations between countries in the oil and gas industry. In this regard, the new name of joint project, Dostluk, which means “friendship”, is symbolic.
Azerbaijan has already made a certain contribution to this project by discovering the field. Azerbaijan have infrastructure and pipelines in the Caspian Sea, oil and gas pipelines, linking the region with European markets and other regions. This would allow to save a part of the expenditures necessary for transportation of the extracted product to the international markets.