At the Trebs and Titov fields

As expected, Bashneft will receive licenses for the Trebs and Titov fields, the largest in the unallocated fund. The competition itself, four of whose participants were rejected by the state, and the fifth, Surgutneftegaz, simply did not make a deposit, was formally declared invalid, but this did not affect the fate of the license. In total, Bashneft will pay 18.476 billion rubles for the fields.

A meeting of the intergovernmental commission was held at which the issue of issuing a license for the Trebs and Titov fields to the only participant in the competition, Bashneft, was considered. As a source close to the commission told Kommersant, it was decided to accept the development conditions proposed by the oil company. Bashneft will pay 18.476 billion rubles for the license - 18.171 billion rubles. as an initial starting payment and 305 million rubles. as a one-time payment. The oil company's press service refused to comment on the commission's decision, saying only that Bashneft representatives spoke at the meeting to defend the technical and economic indicators (TEP) for the development of the field.

The Trebs and Titov fields are located in the Nenets Autonomous Okrug. Recoverable oil reserves in categories C1 + C2 are estimated at 140.06 million tons (together with category C3 - 199.3 million tons). Peak oil production can reach 10 million tons per year.

The competition for the deposits was announced on July 20. Applications were submitted by LUKOIL-Komi, Bashneft, Gazprom Neft, Surgutneftegaz, Samotlorneftegaz (a subsidiary of TNK-BP) and Nord Imperial, which is part of the Imperial Energy group controlled by the Indian ONGC. But the commission refused to participate in the competition for formal reasons to everyone except Bashneft and Surgutneftegaz.

However, the prospects for Surgutneftegaz winning the competition were doubtful from the very beginning. A Kommersant source close to the oil company explained at the end of September that Surgutneftegaz was asked to participate in the competition “at the highest level to give it greater legitimacy.” At the end of October, when the time came to transfer the initial starting payment, the oil company did not make a deposit and thus dropped out of the competition.

As Daria Vasilevskaya, deputy head of the Department of Geology and Subsoil Use of the Ministry of Natural Resources, explained to Kommersant, if only one applicant participates in the competition, then legally the competition is declared invalid. At the same time, the intergovernmental commission must familiarize itself with the technical specifications for field development submitted by the applicant and make a decision based on the submitted proposals. Deputy Head of the Ministry of Natural Resources Sergei Donskoy adds that the minutes of the commission meeting will be sent to the government, where the final decision on the transfer of the license will be made. According to the official's estimates, Bashneft may receive a license at the end of December or beginning of 2011. To develop the fields, the company has already created a new structure - Bashneft-Polyus LLC.

Kirill Melnikov

Bashneft passed without competition