Office of Conservation

DNR'S CONSERVATION COMMISSIONER VISITS TURKMENISTAN

The state's Conservation Commissioner Philip Asprodites and several other oil and gas experts visited the Caspian Sea region in July to participate in talks focused on U.S. oil and gas regulatory programs. The trip coordinated by the United States Energy Association, provided Caspian oil and gas leaders with an information exchange and setup an environmental regulatory partnership with Turkmenistan, Asprodites said today.

Asprodites said he was invited to Ashgabat, Turkmenistan, July 7-8, to speak at an Opening Regulatory Partnership Seminar on the topic of Louisiana's Evolution of Oilfield Waste Management. He said that Turkmen officials would benefit from a trip to Louisiana to see first hand how our oil and gas regulatory programs actually work. According to Asprodites, Turkmenistan officials also were interested in the state's Rigs to Reefs program that turns abandoned production platforms into enhanced habitat for marine life.

The U.S. delegation attending the seminar along with Asprodites included top Mineral Management Services officials of the Department of Interior, Pennsylvania's director of the Bureau of Oil and Gas Management, Department of Environmental Protection, and Indiana's director of the state's Division of Oil and Gas.

The partnership program (Caspian Environmental Oil and Gas Partnership Program or CERPP) targets the countries of Kazakhstan, Turkmenistan, and Georgia in efforts to continue development of sound health, safety, and environmental policies within the petroleum sector of the Caspian region.

In past years, energy ministers and delegates from the Republic of Uzbekistan and Kazakhstan have visited the Louisiana Department of Natural Resources (DNR) to meet with conservation and coastal staff to learn about accounting and reporting requirements for oil and gas production, the collection of royalty payments to the state, and other related topics of interest.

Editors: For more information on this subject or for a detailed interview, call the DNR Public Information Office at 225-342-8955.