“Zarit” Private Joint Stock Company will start the development of three blocks on the Caspian Turkmen shelf in 2004, Itera President Igor Makarov said after a meeting on Friday with Turkmen President Saparmurat Niyazov, ITAR-TASS reports.

"A production sharing agreement with the Turkmen government will be signed soon," Zarubezhneft head Nikolai Tokarev said. Makarov and Tokarev were received at the palace of the Turkmen president to exchange opinions on the progress of a big project on the Caspian Sea hydrocarbon resources development.

Itera, Rosneft and Zarubezhneft set up the Zarit alliance last year for the development of the 29th, 30th and 31st blocks on the Caspian Turkmen shelf. The blocks are located in the southeastern part of the Caspian Sea, near the Turkmen-Iranian water frontier. The 28th block, the subject of production sharing negotiations with Germany's Wintershall, is located nearby.

The southeastern sector of the Caspian Turkmen sector is the richest in gas and oil. Independent experts estimate the fuel potential of the Caspian Turkmen shelf at 11 billion tons of oil and 5.5 trillion cubic meters of gas. British-Arab Dragon Oil, Malaysian Petronas and Danish Maersk Oil are developing Turkmen sea fields on the production sharing terms.