Soviet Oil, Gas Lease Sale Announced: Plans...

Soviet Oil, Gas Lease Sale Announced: Plans for the first competitive sale of oil and gas leases in the Soviet Union, touted as a dramatic departure from past policy, were announced by Soviet representatives and officials of a Denver-based company. Some 90,000 square kilometers of the Soviet Turkmen Republic will be available for sealed bids by non-Soviet oil and gas firms in an arrangement put together during the past year by Geointertech, a joint venture of the Ministry of Geology of the Soviet Union and Wavetech Geophysical Inc. of Denver. Bids will be taken until Sept. 25 for blocks of about 100 square kilometers in the primarily desert republic in the southwestern part of the Soviet Union, bordering the Caspian Sea, Iran and Afghanistan.