Page 125 - RusRPTOct21

9.2 Major corporate news 9.2.1 Oil & gas corporate news
● Gazprom
Gazprom management board raises 2021 gas capexudgety RUB283bn.
Gazprom has reported that the management board approved a new 2021 investment program plan for the gasusiness at RUB1,185bn($16.5bn,including VAT), an increase of RUB283bn versus the plan approved back in December 2020. The capex increase is related to acceleration in the development across key projects. TheoD is yet to review the updated investment plan. The capex increase is generally expected. On Gazprom's 2Q21 conference call in late August, the management stressed that its total capex guidance for 2021 remained at RUB1.5 trillion, though theoD would review the investment program in late September and would likely raise the guidance to adjust for the acceleration of certain projects due to the favorable market conditions and the strong 1H21 results. In our recent report, we raised our total capex estimate for this year to above RUB1.7 trillion, due to acceleration in Power of Siberia projects (the Kovykta-Chayanda pipeline and construction of the Amur GPP plant) and the Yamal program (Kharasavei field development and the start of construction on the third string of the Bovanenkovo-Ukhta-Torzhok pipeline). We think that the acceleration of certain projects in favorable market conditions is a rather reasonable approach.
● Novatek
Novatek has acquired licences for the Arkticheskoye and Neitinskoye fields in YaNAO, which have a combined 0.4tcm gas and 28mnt liquids reserves (under Russian classification). While the acquisition was widely expected, we still treat it as positive for the company, as it might have added a significant part to the company’s gas reserves for just USD 0.06/boe. No concrete use haseen ascribed at this point. We believe that the new assets could produce some 10bcm/a as a plateau level over 20 years.
Expected licence acquisition takes place. Novatek’s “Yamal LNG Resource” subsidiary has acquired two fields in YaNAO, Arkticheskoye and Neitinskoye, at a Russian Subsoil Agency auction. The fields are located close to Novatek's existing assets in the Yamal peninsula. The licence payment is RUB 13.15bn (USD 180mn). The auction was held under special conditions: only subsidiaries of a company with LNG production in YaNAO could participate, which effectively limited the list of contenders to Novatek. The auction was long scheduled
125 RUSSIA Country Report October 2021 www.intellinews.com