The Arctic is coastal – Newspaper Kommersant No. 23 (7468) dated 02/08/2023

According to Kommersant’s information, Tatyana Morozova and Dmitry Kamyshev’s Tsentrgeko (TsGK) has joined the fight for plots in the inland waters of the Russian Federation in the Arctic. Thus, their structure claims two licenses for sites in the Yenisei Bay of the Kara Sea. Previously, Gazprom Neft was interested in sites in this area, which last year received a license for the Ust-Yenisei site, which borders the Yenisei project from the west, from which British Shell left last year against the backdrop of sanctions.

LLC Promgazresurs applied to Rosnedra with an application for obtaining licenses for geological exploration of two sites in the Arctic waters – Yenisei-Karsky-1 and 2, the Ministry of Natural Resources told Kommersant. According to Kommersant, these sites are located in the Yenisei Gulf of the Kara Sea, the exact coordinates are unknown. Promgazresurs, according to the Unified State Register of Legal Entities, is owned by TsGK Gazresurs (70%) and Bonanza (founder – Laysan Talipova). The TsGK Gazresurs itself is owned by Tatyana Morozova (76% share) and Dmitry Kamyshev (24%). Ms. Morozova headed Gazprom Neft’s mergers and acquisitions department for more than ten years, and now she is the head and co-owner of the New Industry investment fund, where Gazprom Neft also participates.

Companies can apply for exploration licenses for areas in the territorial sea (within 12 miles from the coast) and inland waters from the end of 2020, using the declarative principle. First, the Ministry of Natural Resources coordinates the draft order with the relevant departments, and then sends it for approval to the government, which provides licenses free of charge. In the event of a discovery of a field, companies have the right to obtain a mining license.

Previously, Gazprom Neft itself was interested in sites in the Yenisei Bay. So, last year, according to the declarative principle, it received an exploration license for the Ust-Yeniseisky block, which in the west borders on the Leskinsky block, in the east – on the four Zapadno-Taimyrsky blocks owned by Gazprom Neft (numbered 1, 6, 7 and 10 ). The Leskinsky block, along with the Pukhutsyakhsky block, is included in the Yenisei project, which Gazprom Neft planned to develop on an equal footing with Shell, but the British company withdrew from the joint venture amid the imposition of Western sanctions for the outbreak of hostilities in Ukraine. Previously, Gazprom Neft actively sought to attract investment and technology partners to its major projects, but now the task has become much more complicated due to sanctions. One of Kommersant’s interlocutors admits that the acquisition of CGC sites can be carried out in the interests of Gazprom Neft.

The CGC does not comment on plans to develop sites in the Yenisei Bay, in particular, on the potential sale of Gazprom Neft. “The CGC through its subsidiaries and companies on an ongoing basis monitors licensed areas both in the regions of presence and in other regions of Russia where there are attractive assets,” Kommersant was told in this company, the goal is to replenish and increase the resource base of the CGC . In addition, as part of the declarative principle, the Caspian Gas Company (70% from TsGK Gazresurs, the rest from Bonanza) asks for exploration licenses for the coastal areas of Makhachkala-Sea and Dagestanskiye Ogni-Sea in the Caspian Sea. TsGK Holding, another structure of Tatyana Morozova and Dmitry Kamyshev, already has mining assets in Dagestan, which were bought from Rosneft in 2021 (see Kommersant dated June 9, 2021).

In total, during the winter window, the oil companies tried to obtain seven licenses in inland waters and the territorial sea according to the declarative principle. LUKOIL again applied for a license for the Nadezhda block (see Kommersant of January 16), and the Yamal Shelf Company claims the Karsky and Vostochno-Tasisky blocks.

Companies are showing interest in the Yenisei Bay against the background of the fact that Gazprom Neft and Shell, before the sanctions, wanted to develop sections of the Yenisei project, which they considered promising, as well as against the background of the creation of a transport and logistics scheme for the Taimyr project Vostok Oil, the head of the consulting Center “Gekon” Mikhail Grigoriev.

Dmitry Kozlov