Lukoil chief meets Saudi Arabian petroleum minister, discusses raising natural gas price
VIENNA. Nov 26 (Interfax) - Saudi Arabian Petroleum and Mineral Resources Minister Ali Al-Naimi, who is also the president and CEO of Saudi Aramco, met in Vienna on Wednesday with Lukoil President Vagit Alekperov to discuss further cooperation on the project in Block A, where the Russian company discovered two fields, Tukhman and Mushaib.
The meeting was bilateral in nature and took place outside the context of the OPEC summit scheduled for November 27, a source familiar with the situation told Interfax. Al-Naimi and Alekperov also examined the issue of raising the purchase price of the gas and the relevant amendments to Saudi law.
A Lukoil spokesman declined to comment on the information.
In April 2009, Lukoil said that it had discovered two deposits in the country, Tukhman and Mushaib, with C1+C2 reserves of 70 million tonnes of condensate and 300 billion cubic meters (bcm) of gas. Lukoil later announced that it was holding talks with Saudi Arabia on gas prices under the Block A project, located in the Rub al-Khali desert of the kingdom's eastern province.
The company expects to start producing hydrocarbons in Saudi Arabia in 2015.
Lukoil is drilling in Saudi Arabia through the joint venture Saudi Arabia Energy Ltd. (LUKSAR). Lukoil Overseas owns an 80% stake in the joint venture, and national company Saudi Aramco owns 20%.
At the beginning of 2014, Lukoil said it had made the decision to continue its work on the project and to begin preparing for the first stage of a field evaluation.
Lukoil spent $255 million to drill four wells in 2007-2010 at two Block A fields. The wells were suspended pending final assessment of the operational and economic viability of the project.