Kommersant: Lukoil will become a partner of Gazprom Neft in the Karabash project instead of Repsol

“Gazprom Neft” and “Lukoil”may in the coming weeks announce the creation of a joint venture based on the Evrotek-Yugra company, which is developing the Karabashsky blocks in Khanty-Mansiysk Autonomous Okrug, about this told sources of the Kommersant newspaper. According to the publication, “Lukoil“may receive a stake previously owned by the Spanish Repsol, which at the end of 2021 withdrew from assets in Russia.

It is specified that “Gazprom Neft bought 50% from Spanish Repsol last year, after which the share of the Russian company increased to 100%. As a result of this transaction, Lukoil may receive up to 50% of the enterprise – in fact, a share of the Spanish company.

At the end of August, Vadim Yakovlev, deputy head of Gazprom Neft, announced that a new partner in Evrotek-Yugra could be announced in the near future. The companies have not yet responded to the newspaper’s request.

The Evrotek-Yugra company conducts exploration work within the Karabashsky license areas in the Kondinsky district in the Khanty-Mansiysk Autonomous Okrug. She owns a license, including for oil production at the Karabashsky-2 site, where the key asset of the project is located – the Ervie field (formerly Ourinskoye). Currently, production is not yet underway, but Gazprom Neft is already preparing for development.

As the interlocutors of the newspaper noted, the Evrotek-Yugra project requires significant investments in the exploration and production program, so Lukoil’s entry may occur due to investments in the development of the project, and the cost of the transaction itself may be “insignificant”.

Evrotek-Yugra was founded in 2017 as a joint venture between Repsol and Gazprom Neft. At the end of December it became known that the Spanish company decided to completely sell its oil-producing assets in Russia, including the Evrotek-Yugra and ASB Geo enterprises, where it owned 68% and 50.1%, respectively. By data TASS sources, the amount of the transaction for the sale of Evrotek-Yugra amounted to 30 million euros with an investment of 300 million euros. According to the newspaper, Repsol was not completely satisfied with the economy of the joint venture and sought to transfer the Evrotek-Yugra blocks from the current tax system to an additional income tax (ATD).

This is not the first joint venture between Gazprom Neft and Lukoil. At the end of last year, the companies created a joint venture based on Meretoyakhaneftegaz, which is developing the Tazovskoye field in the Yamalo-Nenets Autonomous Okrug. Then Lukoil acquired 50% of the enterprise for 52 billion rubles. and undertook to invest about 9 billion rubles in additional exploration of the deposit.

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