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Murmansk oil company a step closer merger

Arktikmorneftegazrazvedka

Long-serving leader of the Murmansk-based oil company Arktimorneftegazrazvedka, Oleg Mnatsakanyan today announced that he resigns from his post. That might open the way for a merger with the Zarubezhneft company.

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The resignation of Mr. Mnatsakanyan comes after months of company crisis. As BarentsObserver recently reported, the company for the first time in ten years entered January with a negative profit. Salary debts to company workers amounts to nearly 700 000 EUR and the company’s two jack-up rigs the “Kolskaya” and “Murmanskaya” are both lying idle in port.

As a result of the rig standstill, the state-controlled strategic enterprise loses 83 billion rubles in incomes every month. It is the Federal Property Management Agency which has disallowed Arktikmorneftegazrazvedka to hire the rigs to foreign companies, resulting in the reduced revenues.

Mr. Mnatsakanyan has earlier indicated that his AMNGR is in negotiations with Zarubezhneft about leasing of its rigs. As a matter of fact, the Zarubezhneft has shown major interest in incorporating the Murmansk company.

New leader of AMNGR will be Vyacheslav Urmancheev, who comes from the post as adviser to Zarubezhneft general director. Mr. Urmancheev has earlier also worked as deputy leader of the AMNGR, B-port.com reports.

As BarentsObserver reported, a merger between the two companies will mean long-term incomes for AMNGR and give Zarubezhneft opportunity to compete about licenses to work on the Russian shelf, since AMNGR has the required five years of experience on this field.