SGGA Monthly Report: August 1 – August 31, 2015

The project is managed by Advanced Engineering Associates International, Afghanistan, under contract number EPP-I-00-03-00004-00. SGGA's drilling contract management support activities during the period of August 1-31, 2015, focused on ensuring timely payment of invoices and monitoring drilling operations. The project team submitted a due diligence report to USAID assessing the work performed by Turkish Petroleum Corporation (TPAO) in connection with TPAO's first invoice under the USAID-funded SGDP on-budget contract. Despite reminders from SGGA, the Ministry of Mines and Petroleum (MoMP) failed to process TPAO's first invoice, which was 38 days past due. Drilling operations resumed on the Juma #2A well on August 10, 2015, and reached a subsurface depth of 3481 meters on August 19. TPAO conducted open hole logging and testing, but the Ministry was not provided with a complete suite of logs, details of gas volumes, or specific volumes or pressures. The Ministry instructed TPAO to install corrosion-resistant casing, perforate, and test the Juma #2A well. SGGA also provided support for the development of the natural gas sector in Afghanistan through the SGDP Natural Gas Development Support activity. The project team collected and copied geological, geophysical, and well data on seven gas fields from various MoMP departments and employees in Kabul. Specific activities included initiating scanning of documents held in MoMP's main library, collecting data from Oil and Gas Survey (OGS) and Afghan Gas Enterprise (AGE) files in Sheberghan, and copying data in Mazar-e-Sherif. Despite challenges in obtaining necessary documents and support from MoMP staff, SGGA was able to resolve these issues through the quick support of MoMP senior management. The project team also met with the team leader of UNICON to discuss the conclusion of the AGE corporatization project and held numerous meetings with MoMP's main library staff during the collection and scanning of available data on the seven gas fields. The project schedule indicates that the TPAO drilling contract performance period will end on September 25, 2015, which will make it impossible to complete the contract work on time. SGGA will work with MoMP to make necessary adjustments or to begin imposing contractual delay penalties on TPAO. The project team will continue to monitor further testing performed by TPAO on the Juma #2A well, gather data on other wells in the Bashikurd sector, and review all available data to present possible options for altering the existing drilling program with TPAO.