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FSUOGM POLICY FSUOGM

Rosneft pays $240mn for Yamalo-

Nenets gas licence

RUSSIA ROSNEFT outbid Gazprom in a heated tender considering that the asset contains practically
in late April for rights to a large onshore oil and no proven reserves. The only discovery within
Rosneft outbid gas block in the Yamalo-Nenets region, paying its perimeter is the Tota-Yakhinskoye gas field
Gapzrom in the fierce an unusually high $240mn for the licence. containing a mere 1.6 bcm of C1 gas. Explora-
contest. State licensing agency Rosnedra held auc- tion will be required to determine whether it has
tions last month for three subsoil areas in Yama- any commercial potential.
lo-Nenets, totalling nearly 6,100 square km in If Severo-Kustarnikovy proves feasible to
size, located east of the Gulf of Ob. Rosneft, Gaz- develop, however, it could complement other gas
prom and Novatek were reported as the main assets Rosneft is developing in Yamalo-Nenets
contenders for the licences. under its Rospan project. Rospan primarily con-
Rosnedra invited bids starting at RUB697mn sists of the East-Urengoysky, Novo-Urengoysky
($9.45mn) for rights to the Severo-Kustarnikovy and Resursny blocks. Production reached nearly
block, which contains mostly gas. Its D1+D2 6.7 bcm in 2019, but Rosneft plans to raise it to
liquids resources are estimated at 114mn a high as 19 bcm per year under a second stage
tonnes (836mn barrels), while its gas volumes of development. The company revealed in Feb-
are assessed at nearly 400bn cubic metres. The ruary that it expected to see first gas from this
block is some 152 km away from the nearest oil expansion project in the third quarter of 2021.
pipeline and 94 km distant from the nearest gas Rospan’s second-stage launch has been
pipeline. delayed several times, owing to a glut of supply
Rosneft won after agreeing to pay RUB17.6bn on Russia’s domestic gas market. Rosneft cannot
($240mn) for the licence. This represents the redirect the gas overseas, as it lacks any LNG
highest-value licence purchase in Russia since export capacity and Gazprom is the only com-
2018, when Rosneft paid RUB20bn for rights to pany permitted to sell gas overseas via pipeline.
the Erginskoye oilfield in the Khanty-Mansiysk Another key Rosneft gas project is the Khara-
area. mpurskoye field, also in Yamalo-Nenets. Rosneft
The auctions for the two other subsoil areas, formed a 51:49 joint venture with long-serving
Luchisty and Zapadno-Tagenetsky, did not partner BP in 2018 to develop the Cenomanian
result in awards as an insufficient number of bids layer of Kharampurskoye and the neighbouring
were received. Festivalnoye field. The project is expected to flow
The amount that Rosneft paid for the 10 bcm per year of gas. Its launch is now antici-
Severo-Kustarnikovy licence is surprising, pated in 2022, following similar delays. ™

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