Rosneft, BP form joint venture for Siberian exploration

June 17, 2016
OJSC Rosneft and BP PLC have signed final binding agreements to form a joint venture for onshore exploration in two Siberian basins.

OJSC Rosneft and BP PLC have signed final binding agreements to form a joint venture for onshore exploration in two Siberian basins (OGJ Online, June 19, 2015).

Rosneft will have 51% in Yermak Neftegaz LLC, which will conduct exploration activities in areas of mutual interest (AMI) totaling about 260,000 sq km in the West Siberian basin and the Yenisey-Khatanga basin.

Activities will include regional research, acquisition of seismic data, and drilling of exploration wells. Field work is anticipated to begin in the 2016-17 winter season.

BP committed to spend as much as $300 million in two phases. Rosneft will contribute licenses and operational experience in the basins with initial drilling to be performed by Rosneft subsidiaries.

In the initial stage, the joint venture will carry out further appraisal work on the 2009 Rosneft-discovered Baikalovskiy field inside the Yenisey-Khatanga AMI, and exploration of the Zapadno-Yarudeiskoye, Kheiginskoye, and Anomalnoye licenses in the West Siberian AMI.