Page 9 - FSUOGM Week 36 2021

FSUOGM INVESTMENT FSUOGM

Rosneft sells 50% stake

in Tomskneft JV

RUSSIA RUSSIA’S national oil company (NOC) Rosneft upstream assets from Rosneft over the past year.
has sold its 50% stake in the Tomskneft joint ven- Neftegazholding itself told the newspa-
Rosneft is on a long ture it had with Gazprom Neft as part of a sweep- per that given shortages of oil supply in Russia
overdue divestment ing divestment programme, the RBC newspaper because of OPEC+ cuts, it was forced to buy
drive. reported on September 3 citing sources. The assets on the market that have low profitability
identity of the buyer has not been disclosed, and a long payback period. But it did not specify
although RBC reported previously that Neft- whether it was referring to Tomskneft.
egazholding, a private firm under the control of “We think much of Tomskneft’s produc-
a former Rosneft president, had interest in the tion was eligible for the depletion MET relief,
business. which was cancelled at the start of 2021,
Rosneft is pruning its upstream portfolio of although the company could have transi-
lower-margin mature assets in order to raise tioned some of its fields to EPT (as third group
funds for Vostok Oil, a megaproject it is devel- fields),” VTB Capital said in a statement. “At
oping in the Russian Arctic that could one day the same time, Tomskneft’s fields have rela-
yield over 2mn barrels per day (bpd) of crude. tively high operating expenses, due to their
Analysts have largely welcomed the divestment maturity and high water cuts. This transaction
strategy as a long-overdue shift towards rational- alone would reduce Rosneft’s oil production
isation at the company, which has faced criticism [by] some 37,000 boepd, or 0.9% year on year,
in the past for favouring volume over value. in 2021 on our numbers, providing a negative
Tomskneft has rights to 34, mostly mature, effect on earnings.”
fields in the Tomsk region of Western Siberia, Tomskneft formerly belonged to Yukos,
with around 60% of its production coming from which was Russia’s biggest oil producer until its
the Igolsko-Talovoye, Krapivinskoye, Luginet- demise in the early 2000s after being hit with
skoye, Pervomaiskoye, Sovetskoye and Vakh- $27bn in back-tax claims. Yukos’ assets were sold
skoye deposits. The bulk of its output, which off in bankruptcy auctions, and Tomskneft and
came to around 100,000 bpd last year, is deliv- many others fell into the hands of Rosneft. Ros-
ered to a Rosneft oil refinery in Achinsk. neft sold a 50% share to Gazprom Neft in 2007.
In a mandatory public disclosure on Septem- Rosneft divested a raft of assets, mainly to
ber 3, Rosneft said it had ceased its participation Neftegazholding, late last year in order to free
in Tomskneft. Sources earlier told RBC that the up cash for Vostok Oil, which comprises a group
business could be of interest to Neftegazholding, of large oilfields in the north of the Krasnoyarsk
which is under the control of Eduard Khudaina- region. In June this year it also shed interests in
tov, who served as Rosneft’s president until 2012. assets in south Russia to another private com-
Neftegazholding has acquired a number of other pany called Tsentgeko.™

Week 36 08•September•2021 www. NEWSBASE .com P9