Page 6 - FSUOGM Week 23

FSUOGM COMMENTARY FSUOGM
Gazprom Neft forges new ties at SPIEF
The Russian oil major is pushing ahead with increasingly challenging projects
RUSSIA
WHAT:
Gazprom Neft was among the main dealmakers
at the St Petersburg International Economic Forum (SPIEF).
WHY:
The company is forging new partnership to tap technology, expertise and funding to realise its more challenging projects.
WHAT NEXT:
Gazprom Neft says it is on track to lift production to 100 million toe per year by 2020.
RUSSIAN oil major Gazprom Ne has clinched several new upstream deals with foreign and domestic partners, as it looks to tap extra invest- ment and expertise to drive its more challenging projects forward.
e agreements were reached at this year’s St Petersburg International Economic Forum (SPIEF), seen as the main event in Russia’s busi- ness calendar.
The international front
Gazprom Ne said in a statement it had agreed with long-time partner Royal Dutch Shell to form a new 50:50 joint venture in Western Sibe- ria. e venture will develop the Meretoyakhin- skoye eld, which produced 38,000 bpd of crude last year, as well as several neighbouring licence blocks. The assets together hold around 1.1 billion tonnes (8 billion barrels) in in-place oil resources.
Gazprom Ne expects to close the deal in either late 2019 or early 2020, pending regula- tory clearance.
e Russian major already relies on Shell’s technology and know-how at Western Siberia’s 120,000 bpd Salym Petroleum project, where the pair have managed to bolster production levels at mature elds using enhanced oil recovery (EOR) techniques such as alkaline-surfactant-polymer (ASP) ooding.
e company plans to nalise another part- nership with the Anglo-Dutch major next year at the Leskinsky and Pukhutsyayakhsky blocks, which span 3,850 square km of Russia’s north- ern Gydan Peninsula. Leskinsky holds an esti- mated 100 million toe (733 million boe) of D1 resources, while Pukhutsyayakhsky’s D1+D2 reserves are assessed at 33 million toe (242 mil- lion barrels).
Under a memorandum of understanding (MoU) signed last week, Gazprom Neft will assume a 50% stake in a JV to exploit these assets, with Shell and Spain’s Repsol each taking 25%. e company is also working with Repsol at the undeveloped Ourinskoye oil nd.
Meanwhile, Russian Energy Minister Alex- ander Novak revealed at the forum that Gaz- prom Ne was wrapping up talks to sell a share in Eastern Siberia’s Chonsky project to a Chi- nese drilling company called Zhongman Petro- leum and Natural Gas Group (ZPEC).
Chonsky consists of three geologically chal- lenging elds with an estimated 219.5 million tonnes (1.6 billion barrels) of oil and 300 bcm of natural gas in C1+C2 resources. Gazprom Ne has been searching for a partner to develop the project for years, initially entering talks in 2012 with Japan Oil, Gas and Metals National Corp. (JOGMEC). When negotiations broke down, it turned to CEFC China Energy, but was unable
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w w w . N E W S B A S E . c o m Week 23 12•June•2019