Page 15 - FSUOGM Week 06 2021

FSUOGM POLICY FSUOGM

Russia to auction two Arctic

gas fields in April

RUSSIA RUSSIA’S state subsoil licensing agency Rosne- Ushakovskoye is situated less than 10 km
dra has announced it will hold auctions in April from the producing Pelyatinskoye field, which
Rosneft is in line to pick for two gas licence areas near Rosneft’s Vostok is used to supply gas to facilities controlled by
up the assets. Oil megaproject. Russian mining giant Norilsk Nickel. Norilsk
The contest will take place on April 12 for had asked authorities not to auction off Ush-
licences to the Turkovsky and Deryabinsky akovskoye, to ensure its gas is used locally.
blocks, both located on the Arctic Taymyr Pen- Instead, Norilsk reached a compromise deal
insula. Deposits for taking part must be paid by last July with Rosneft, under which the Rus-
March 12. sian producer pledged it would provide some
Under the auction terms, only companies of the field’s gas to the miner while exporting
that already have active oil and gas projects in the rest.
the north of the Krasnoyarsk region can partici- The starting price for bids for the Turkovsky
pate. Russian Natural Resources Minister Dmi- licence is RUB758.8mn ($10.2mn).
try Kobylkin confirmed last October that this Some 15 exploration and appraisal wells
effectively singled out Rosneft. have been drilled to date at the 404.8-square km
The state oil company wants to accumu- Deryabinsky block. The area contains the 1982
late more gas in Russia’s far north to underpin Deryabinskoye gas and condensate find. Its
LNG production at its Vostok Oil project. Ros- C1+C2 reserves are estimated at nearly 55 bcm
neft CEO Igor Sechin has estimated before that of gas and 3.43mn tonnes (30.9mn barrels) of
Vostok Oil could produce as much as 50mn condensate.
tonnes per year (tpy) of LNG, in addition to over Deryabinskoye is situated roughly 85 km
2mn barrels per day (bpd) of oil and significant north-west of the Paiyakhskoye field, the flag-
coal supply. ship asset of Vostok Oi. Offers for the rights to
The Turkovsky block spans 975 square km the field will start at a price of RUB1.42bn.
and contains almost 54bn cubic metres of gas in Rosneft requested that the government hold
C1+C2 reserves, along with an additional 5 bcm auctions for Ushakovskoye and Deryabinskoye,
in Dl-category resources. Nine exploration wells and a third field Kazantsevskoye, last summer.
have been drilled in the area in the past, with one It was awarded a licence for Kazantsevskoye in
in 1988 discovering the Ushakovskoye field. October last year.™

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