U.S., British firms lose privileges in Turkmen oil development

MOSCOW (AP) — Turkmenistan’s government has stripped a U.S. and a British-Chinese firm of exclusive rights to negotiate a license for the development of two Caspian oil fields, a news report said Friday.

Turkmenistan’s presidential fuel committee said the move was intended to punish the U.S. company Mobil and the British-Chinese Kern Energy-Texuna for allegedly failing to show up for the scheduled opening date of negotiations with the Turkmen government about the oil rights, the Interfax news agency reported.

The government had earlier offered the two companies a chance to negotiate a development license for the Serdan and Gaplan oil fields before it was to be offered to any other company, the committee said.

Combined reserves at the two fields are estimated at between 240 million and 290 million metric tons of oil and 133 billion cubic meters of natural gas, Interfax reported.