The Bashneft group of companies received control over 100% of Burneftegaz LLC, which owns the rights to exploration and development of the Sorovskoye (East-Vuemsky license area) and Tortasinskoye (Tortasinsky license area) fields in the Tyumen region, the group’s press service reported on Thursday. The transaction amount exceeded $1 billion, including debt, the report notes.

The deal was financed, among other things, through borrowed funds, the press service reported.

The Sorovskoye field is located 150 km southwest of Nefteyugansk, the Tortasinskoye field is 137 km north of Khanty-Mansiysk. The validity period of licenses for these deposits is until 2032. The volume of oil production at the Sorovskoye field in 2013 was about 300,000 tons. Total oil reserves are 53.4 million tons.

Burneftegaz, through its subsidiary, also holds a license for geological exploration of the North Ityakhsky 3 and East Unlorsky subsoil areas, located 152 km north of Khanty-Mansiysk and 228 km southwest of Surgut, respectively.

Until now, the main shareholder of Burneftegaz was businessman Oleg Burlakov (No. 159 in the ranking of the 200 richest businessmen in Russia according to Forbes, net worth $0.6 billion), who owned 85% of the shares. In December 2013, the Kommersant newspaper wrote that Burlakov put the company up for sale, and Rosneft and Gazprom Neft were among the possible buyers. The newspaper noted that Burneftegaz’s debt, according to unconfirmed data, exceeds $200 million.

The newspaper's source said that Burlakov decided to sell all his assets in Russia and leave the country, as he allegedly "fears criminal prosecution." In 2012, it was reported that the ex-head of Burneftegaz, Pavel Mitrofanov, was suspected of transferring bribes and was on the federal wanted list. The publication's sources also said that Burlakov began to transfer part of his assets to the Swiss Edelweiss Fininvest SA.

Bashneft bought Burneftegaz for more than $1 billion