5 May 2022 13:21

Lukoil has received 50% of Meretoyakha JV with Gazprom Neft

MOSCOW. May 5 (Interfax) - Lukoil has become the owner of a 50% stake in LLC Meretoyakhaneftegaz, the other 50% remaining with Gazprom Neft , according to data from SPARK-Interfax.

The two oil companies have now completed the formation of their joint venture based on Meretoyakhaneftegaz.

Lukoil and Gazprom Neft signed a contract last year for the sale and purchase of a 50% stake in the charter capital of Meretoyakhaneftegaz. Lukoil will pay Gazprom Neft 52 billion rubles for 50% in the Meretoyakha JV, including assigning loans for 35 billion rubles.

The companies also agreed on a program of additional exploration of the blocks of Meretoyakhaneftegaz LLC where 8.9 billion rubles of expenditures will be financed by Lukoil.

The Tazovskoye oil and gas condensate field, which Gazprom Neft put on stream in June 2021, will be at heart of the new production area. The field has the potential to produce 1.7 million tonnes of oil and 8 billion cubic meters of gas, peaking at 8 million tonnes of oil equivalent in 2024. The fields is one of the first group of fields to be developed under the excess profit tax regime. In-place reserves are 419 million tonnes of oil and 225 bcm of gas. Meretoyakhaneftegaz includes a number of other fields in the Yamal-Nenets Autonomous District.

Partnership in the Meretoyakha JV between Gazprom Neft and with Shell (SPB: RDS.A) was called off in 2020 due to the pandemic, but the then Lukoil chief Vagit Alekperov said last year that his company was in consultations with Gazprom Neft about a role in the Meretoyakha project.