PJSC LUKOIL and PJSC Gazprom Neft signed an agreement to create a joint venture to develop an oil and gas cluster in the Nadym-Pur-Tazovsky area of Russia’s Yamal-Nenets Autonomous District.
The JV is being set up via Meretoyakhaneftegaz, a subsidiary of Gazprom Neft. Tazovskoye oil and gas condensate field, which was put on-stream in June, is the core of the new production area. The field lies 525 km from Salekhard. Its geological reserves—419 million tons of oil and 225 billion cu m (bcm) of gas—make it one of the largest in Western Siberia. Its peak annual production volume is expected to reach 1.7 million tons of oil and 8 bcm of gas.
The JV plans to develop Severo-Samburgskoye and Meretoyakhinskoye fields, as well as two Zapadno-Yubileiny license blocks. Additional appraisal and pilot works are under way, on which a development strategy for the cluster will be developed, the companies said.
The aggregate geological reserves of the new cluster amount to more than 1 billion tons of oil and about 500 bcm of gas. A considerable proportion of the reserves initially in place lie within the Achimov formation and are categorized as hard-to-recover reserves.
Meretoyakhaneftegaz is the first asset to be managed by LUKOIL and Gazprom Neft on a parity (50-50) basis. Over the next few months, the parties expect to prepare detailed binding documents establishing the JV and secure necessary corporate and regulatory approvals.
The companies also will continue to explore additional opportunities to expand their cooperation on other projects in their regions of operation across Russia.
