The opening price in the auction on the Titov and Trebs oil fields in the Nenets Autonomous Okrug will be 17 billion RUB and not 60 billion as previously announced, the Russian Ministry of Natural Resources informs.

US oil major ConocoPhillips will this year sell all its 20 percent in Lukoil. The Russian company will itself buy the shares, and thus also becomes the sole owner of regional subsidiaries like the Naryanmarneftegaz in the Nenets Autonomous Okrug.

The Russian state is seeking a record price of 2 billion USD to develop the Trebs and Titov oil fields in the Nenets Autonomous Okrug. The two strategic oil fields have a total of more than 200 million tons of reserves.

As part of the preparations for increased traffic along the Northern Sea Route, Russian authorities are conducting an expedition to inspect the condition of dumped nuclear reactors and other potentially dangerous objects along the coast.

A new agreement signed by the leaders of the Nenets Autonomous Okrug and Arkhangelsk Oblast returns several formerly deprived powers to the small oil-rich region.

Russian Prime Minister Vladimir Putin has endorsed a proposal by French oil major Total to invite Qatar to join major gas projects on Russia's Yamal, Total's chief Christophe de Margerie said.

Gazprom will invest more than 14 trillion RUB in the production program in the period 2010-2013, says Gazprom official. 40 percent of the investments will be used on Yamal and Shtokman. At the same time, Gazprom has lowered the prognoses for production in 2010.

The Sintez Group is about to sell its 50 percent stake in Arktikshelfneftegaz, the company which controls the license to the Medynsko-Varandey oil field in the Pechora Sea. State-owned Zarubezhneft is the most likely buyer of the stake.

The company Varandey Terminal, which operated Lukoil’s port in Varandey on the coast of the Pechora Sea, in 2009 boosted net profits almost 14 times year-on-year.

Governor of the far northern Nenets Autonomous Okrug says he carefully follows the developments in the Gulf of Mexico.