China National Petroleum Corp and France’s Total have sealed an agreement to farm in to acreage in Tajikistan owned by London-listed independent Tethys Petroleum, giving both majors a stake in oil and gas resources that may prove on par with recent world-class offshore discoveries in East Africa.

The signing of the deal in Dushanbe comes six months after Tethys said in December that subsidiaries of Total and CNPC had agreed to farm in to the Bokhtar production sharing contract for one-third stakes each.

The deal deepens China’s presence in Central Asia where it has made significant energy and trade investments while Total gains a foothold in the Amu Darya Basin, one of the most prolific hydrocarbon structures in the world.

Mr Stephane Foucaud MD of institutional research for FirstEnergy Capital told Interfax that “For Tethys, it opens a new chapter in the company’s history and it’s opening up an entire new frontier. It boosts their balance sheet by about $60 million and that allows them to start basically fund exploration and development activities in Kazakhstan.”

Mr David Robson president of Tethys “We believe the Bokhtar PSC is a world class asset with enormous potential,” said Tethys President in Tuesday’s announcement.

The PSC spans about 3.5 million hectares - larger than Belgium - with an independent test placing unrisked mean recoverable prospective resources of 3.22 trillion cubic metres and 8.5 billion barrels of oil.