Russ Oil-Gas

MOSCOW, December 29 (RIA Novosti) - Gazprom [RTS: GAZP] has been granted two licenses by the government of Tajikistan for the geological prospecting of natural gas and oil fields in the Central Asian republic, the energy giant said Friday. The licenses were issued under a strategic cooperation agreement signed between Gazprom and the Tajik government May 15, 2003. The Rengan gas field is located 20 kilometers (12 miles) south of the republic's capital, Dushanbe, with probable natural gas reserves of 35 billion cubic meters. The Sargazon field is based in the Dangarin district of the Khatlon region, 150 (90 miles) kilometers southeast of Dushanbe, with probable gas reserves of 30 billion cubic meters. By now, 12 oil and gas fields have been discovered in Tajikistan, of which two gas and five oil deposits are being developed. The republic needs over 1.2 billion cubic meters of natural gas a year. In 2005, Tajikistan produced 29.4 million cubic meters of gas.