Lukoil plans to carry out Imilor deposit project in 3 yrs
NOVY URENGOI. Jan 15 (Interfax) - Russian oil major Lukoil plans to carry out the Imilor deposit project in three years, company CEO Vagit Alekperov told the press.
"We hope that in three years we'll do the Imilor project," Alekperov said.
The Lukoil chief described the price his company paid at auction as appropriate. "The price we paid is rather high," he said. But that price is in line with indicators the company has on the value of a barrel of oil. "But it is fairly high for a deposit of such quality," he said.
Alekperov did not dismiss the possibility of Lukoil working with partners at Imilor. "If there are cooperation proposals, we'll consider [them]. But for now we are doing it ourselves. It integrates well into our infrastructure," he said.
No-one at this point has offered to join forces with Lukoil in the context of this project.
LLC Lukoil-West Siberia, a wholly owned Lukoil subsidiary, won an auction for the rights to make use of a federally significant subsoil resource section including the Imilor + West Imilor and Istochnoye deposits located in Khanty-Mansiysk Autonomous District with the offer of a one-off payment of 50.8 billion rubles.
There are two oil deposits open in this section - Imilor + West Imilor (1987) and Istochnoye (1988). Geologic recoverable oil reserves within the section amounted as of January 1, 2011 to 855.5 million tonnes (C1 and C2: 193.7 million tonnes).
Rosneft , Lukoil-West Siberia, and Gazpromneft-Noyabrskneftegaz applied to bid at the Imilor auction. The Russian Natural Resources Ministry earlier said Surgutneftegas and a company called Status had also applied to bid. Bashneft planned to bid but then changed its mind. Vladimir Yevtushenkov, core owner of the Sistema holding, which owns Bashneft, has said Bashneft did not plan to bid for Imilor but that the company might form an alliance with the auction winner.
Russia's Natural Resources Ministry does not at this point see a problem with the auction winner bringing a partner on board for the Imilor project. After winning the auction, Lukoil said that the possibility of a partnership for the project was not a subject of consideration at that point.
