Six at the start

The circle of participants in the competition for the deposits named after. Trebs and them. Titova

Yesterday the deadline for submitting applications for participation in the competition for the deposits named after. Trebs and them. Titova. Six companies will compete for the right to develop these largest oil fields from the undistributed fund (total recoverable reserves amount to more than 140 million tons): Gazprom Neft, Surgutneftegaz, Bashneft, LUKOIL (represented by its subsidiary LUKOIL-Komi). , Samotlorneftegaz (acting on behalf of TNK-BP), as well as Nord Imperial, a subsidiary of the Indian corporation ONGC, which expressed a desire to participate in the auction yesterday. At the same time, Rosneft, whose leaders have previously repeatedly declared interest in the subsoil of the Nenets Autonomous Okrug, decided not to submit an application. Zarubezhneft will not take part in the competition either. Trading, as previously announced, will begin on December 2.

As Rosnedra explained to Vremya Novostei, in accordance with the federal law “On Subsoil”, companies wishing to compete for the right to obtain a license for a particular deposit must, within the deadline established by the department, not only submit an appropriate application, but also submit a document confirming payment of the fee for participation in the competition (in this case we are talking about 606 thousand rubles). At the time of signing the issue, it was known that the six above-mentioned companies had contributed the required amount. However, it was unknown whether Surgutneftegaz submitted an application yesterday.

Representatives of Rosneft said that the company would decide on participation in the competition on the last day - September 20. Only in the evening the new head of the corporation, Eduard Khudainatov, made a statement. According to him, Rosneft intends to focus on existing areas of expansion. “Rosneft already has a good set of highly promising projects in Eastern Siberia, on the shelf, and in other regions. To effectively implement our plans, a lot of work remains, which will include agreeing on an acceptable tax regime, and it is this focus of our management and financial resources that seems most appropriate,” explained the president of the largest Russian oil company.

According to UniCredit analyst Artem Konchin, Rosneft’s refusal to fight for the proposed subsoil plots is completely justified. “They have a focus on Eastern Siberia. A lot of money has already been invested there, significant infrastructure has been created, and the prospects for income from these projects are clear. It’s quite difficult to start immediate development if you win the competition, and it’s unprofitable to buy just to have it,” the expert noted. It is also worth adding that the corporation’s management, declaring their interest in the deposits, noted the unattractiveness of the conditions for their development. Let us recall that the license agreement obliges the owner to process at least 42% of the extracted raw materials at its own facilities, as well as to sell at least 15% of the extracted oil on the Russian commodity exchange. These conditions, according to industry sources, point to the most likely winner of the hydrocarbon race. “Taking into account the proposed encumbrance, it seems that Bashneft will be the winner.” Only it has the necessary processing capacity. True, in order to load them with extracted oil, we will have to abandon the raw materials purchased from other companies,” said another interlocutor of Vremya Novostei. However, as Mr. Konchin noted, the positions of LUKOIL and Gazprom Neft look no less promising. Previously, both companies intended to submit a joint application. “The victory of such a joint venture would be beneficial to everyone. LUKOIL has infrastructure built in the region, and the interests of the state were represented by Gazprom Neft. However, individually their chances of winning do not become less,” the analyst added.

Experts tend to consider the Indian corporation ONGC to be an outsider in the race. It already owns a stake in the Sakhalin-1 project, as well as the Siberian assets of Imperial Energy. But, as an industry source explained, the likelihood of obtaining a license without having one of the Russian oil companies as a partner is negligible. In addition, the priority direction for further expansion of ONGC in Russia is rather the Far East.

Petr GELTISHCHEV