Rosneft looks to get licenses to 5 Magadan shelf sections by year-end
YUZHNO-SAKHALINSK. March 21 (Interfax) - Russian oil company Rosneft anticipates the receipt of licenses to Magadan-shelf sections 1, 2, and 3, and another two sections, before this year is out, company chief Eduard Khudainatov said Saturday during a meeting dedicated to the development of the Far East fuel and energy complex.
"We are getting ready to receive the Magadan - 1, 2, 3, and another two blocks located nearby on the Magadan shelf - this year," Khudainatov said. Reserves contained in these sections could reach 2 billion tonnes "of promising, recoverable deposits," he said.
Rosneft is looking over the possibility of bringing Chinese and Japanese companies on board the development of these shelf sites, he said. "We are waiting for partners. There is interest on the part of Chinese and even Japanese companies. There hands are literally shaking," he said.
However, negotiations with foreign investors are stalled over the fact that Rosneft has not yet secured the licenses, Khudainatov said. "We would negotiate with them, but we don't have the licenses," he said.
Prime Minister Vladimir Putin inquired of Natural Resources and Ecology Minister Yury Trutnev at the meeting as to the possibility of the licenses being issued to Rosneft before year-end.
They will be issued "before the end of the year, most likely," Trutnev responded.