Canadian oilmen have no money to continue their activities in Tajikistan

Tethys Petroleum Limited of Canada may be forced to withdraw from the project to develop the Bokhtar oil and gas field in the south of Tajikistan.

According to Tethys, CNPC of China and Total of France want the company to go out of the project because of its inability to meet its financial obligations.

CNPC and Total claim Tethys’s stake in the project but the Canadian company is going to protect its interests. In Sept Tethys asked Nostrum Oil&Gas Plc of the UK to consider buying its issued capital and giving it some $20mn for short-term liquidity needs. The deal has failed, leaving the Canadian company with no money.

Tethys Petroleum Limited has worked in Tajikistan since 2008. In late July 2012, it found 27.5 billion barrels of oil equivalent at Bokhtar, a 35,000 sq m field in the southeast of Tajikistan. Some 69% of the reserves were gas, 31% oil and gas condensate. In July 2013, Tethys signed a shareholder agreement with CNPC and Total. Each side acquired 1/3 of the Bokhtar project.