Domestic gas production has rapidly declined in Uzbekistan over the last few years, to the point where the country became a net importer since 2023 to meet demand. This has sparked the country’s leadership to take action and form a new state-supported explorer under the name of Yangi Kon. This new organisation, whose role is to find resources in areas previously overlooked, has now embarked on a drilling project in the Ustyurt region in the west of the country that will hopefully prove potential in strata that have never been properly explored.
Kike Beintema from Boston Consulting Group is working with Yangi Kon to help build an organisation that is driven by technical expertise and modern data analysis methodologies in order to attract foreign investment into the country in the medium term. When we speak, she has just landed in the town of Nukus in the west of the country, where she is going to attend the ceremony of spudding the well (UDG-1) that will test the prospectivity of Lower Jurassic strata at a depth of around 7.5 kilometres. That ceremony took place last weekend.
“Thus far,” Kike says, “the country has focused on exploring Upper and Middle Jurassic reservoirs, so we are certainly looking beyond the traditional plays here. Another important factor to bear in mind is that we are testing stratigraphic traps, in contrast to the more traditional four-way closures. If the graben structure we are drilling into has good gas saturations in the sandstones that can be found throughout, there is the potential for a major gas development,” she adds.
The interesting thing about the well that is now being drilled is that the same Lower Jurassic strata were recently de-risked by another borehole (ZSK-1P) completed nearby. “The difference between that well and the one we are now embarking on,” explains Kike, “is that it targeted a structural closure at Lower Jurassic level, whilst the current well is testing a stratigraphic trap and also aims to go deeper. The previously drilled well – which was completed by Uzbekneftegaz – did prove gas though, which is a positive sign for us. In fact, it has helped de-risk the prospect we are targeting now.”
The location of the well spud is also quite special because only a few decades ago, this area used to be Lake Aral. The boats that can still be seen dotted around form a stark reminder of its size.
Kike has been working with Yangi Kon for more than two years now, and in that capacity she has overseen the compilation of a large subsurface database including all legacy wells drilled in the country, supplemented by seismic data acquisition that has taken place over the decades. “This has given us a much better understanding of where near-field exploration opportunities are,” she says, “which has already paid off as the company is also currently drilling a well targeting a fault block very close to an existing field that was previously overlooked.”
