In a statement Dragon said, “Vessels and equipment have been mobilised to Turkmenistan to commence a marine 3D seismic survey. The survey will cover the entire area of Dragon’s LAM and Zhdanov fields and is expected to be completed in September 2004.”

“A contractor has [also] begun operations to install two new pipelines that will take the additional production from the new wells on platforms LAM21 and LAM10,” added the company.

To Hussain M. Sultan, the chairman of Dragon Oil, the survey will help the company better prepare for its drilling program. According to Hussain, “The marine 3D seismic survey is an important part of our plans for the LAM and Zhdanov fields.

“The acquisition of 3D data will give us a much clearer picture of the fields’ internal reservoir architecture which is critical to our identification of further drilling targets.”