Gazprom secures rights to Pribaikalsky hydrocarbon block near Kovykta

IRKUTSK. March 27 (Interfax) - Gazprom will receive the rights to use the subsoil resources of the Pribaikalsky hydrocarbon block in the northern part of Irkutsk Region, near the Russian gas giant's Kovykta gas condensate field.

Gazprom submitted the only bid to participate in the auction for the block, so the auction was declared void and the resource rights were granted to the sole bidder, the torgi.gov.ru website said.

Gazprom will pay 15.4 million rubles for the resource rights, which is equivalent to the starting price plus one bidding increment.

Pribaikalsky is located in the immediate vicinity of Gazprom's Kovykta field and Chikansky and Khandinsky blocks. The auction documentation stated that commercial gas and condensate flows have been struck at the latter.

The Pribaikalsky block had D1 category forecast resources of 2 million tonnes of oil, 44.1 billion cubic meters of gas and 5.7 million tonnes of condensate, and D2 category resources of 1.2 million tonnes, 37.1 bcm and 1 million tonnes, respectively, as of the beginning of 2017.