The Russian Ministry of Natural Resources this week informed that it has approved Zarubezhneft`s bid for status as eligible shelf operating company. The federal government will in the near future take a final decision on the issue, Minister Sergey Donskoy confirms, Biztass.ru reports.
Zarubezhneft`s year-long struggle to get access to rich Russian offshore resources got a boost after the company in 2009 acquired Arktikmorneftegazrazvedka (AMNGR), the Murmansk-based offshore petroleum company.
Russian legislation requires a minimum of five years of experience on the shelf before a company is allowed to engage on the shelf and only Gazprom and Rosneft have consequently so far acquired offshore licenses. With AMNGR as part of its structure, Zarubezhneft has the experience required.
Deputy Minister Kirll Kramov has earlier confirmed that “Zarubezhneft will get licenses on the shelf as soon as the daughter company Arktikmorneftegazrazvedka gets the attestation needed”.
Zarubezhneft company has since it was established in 1969 operated primarily in foreign projects, several of them in Vietnam, Algeria and India. The company has however also stakes in Russian projects, among them in the Timan Pechora province. In 2009, the company acquired a 10 percent stake in the Kharyaga project, one of Russia’s three projects operated on a production sharing agreement. Project operator in Kharyaga is Total, with Statoil as main partner.
The AMNGR was founded in 1979 for prospecting, exploration and development of oil and gas fields on the Russian Arctic Seas shelf. Since 1987, the company has engaged in oil production at the Peschanoozerskoye field at Kolguev, an island in the Pechora Sea.
