The licenses to the Demidovsky, Medvezhii, Fersmanovsky and Ledovy fields are granted to Gazprom without tender, a government press release reads.
The gas company is paying about 9 billion RUB (€221 million) for the fields, which in total stretch over a 9300 square km area. The Fersmanovskoye field is believed to be the by far richest of the structures with estimated resources of 944 billion cubic meters of gas category C3, while the Demidovskoye is believed to hold 275,5 billion cubic meters of category D3 gas. The Medvezhii and Ledovy structures are believed to hold also significant volumes of condensate.
With control over the licenses, Gazprom strengthens its position in the Barents Sea. From before, the company owns the license to the huge Shtokman field.
The new liceses are issued one month ahead of the Barents Prime Ministers’ meeting in Kirkenes, Norway. Celebrating 20 years of Barents Cooperation, Dmitry Medvedev will together with his Nordic counterparts, as well as EU Commission President Jose Manuel Barroso and other dignitaries, meet on the Norwegian Barents Sea coast to discuss joint action in the resource-rich Barents Region.
Medvedev’s visit to Norway comes three years after his historical state visit to the country in 2010. Then, he together with Norwegian Prime Minister Jens Stoltenberg, announced that a compromise had been reached on the disputed Russian-Norwegian waters in the Barents Sea. The Barents delimitation agreement was followed by a quick opening of the area, which is believed to have a significant hydrocarbon potential.
