OVL, Rosneft sign pact for Vankor oil field

Moscow: ONGC Videsh Limited (OVL) and Rosneft on Thursday signed an Agreement of Confirmation of successful completion of the first stage of the USD 1.268 billion acquisitionOVL of 15 percent stake in Russia's second biggest oil field of Vankor by the Indian firm.

The document was signed in the presence of the Russian President Vladimir Putin and Prime Minister Narendra Modi by OVL Managing Director Narendra K Verma and Rosneft Chairman of the Management Board Igor Sechin.

"The document was signed in continuation of the agreement of sale and purchase of a 15 percent share in Vankorneft and the shareholders agreement in regard of the enterprise management (the documents were signed in September, 2015).

"The parties intend to complete the transaction upon obtaining necessary regulatory and other approvals," it said.

Rosneft and OVL also signed a Memorandum of Understanding for cooperation for geologic survey, exploration andproduction of hydrocarbons onshore and on the continental shelf of the Russian Federation.

"Particularly, the companies will analyse the possibility of expanding their partnership aimed at the development of
perspective Rosneft projects in East Siberia," it said.

Commenting on the signed documents, Dinesh K Sarraf, Chairman and Managing Director, ONGC said: "We are happy for the ongoing cooperation between ONGC Videsh and Rosneft and successful completion of the first stage pre-completion actions in relation to the creation of a joint venture in JSC "Vankorneft".

"This takes the cooperation between the two companies to a whole new level and lay strong foundation for enlarging the energy cooperation between the two nations."

Vankorneft, a Rosneft subsidiary, was established in 2004 for development of Vankor oil and gas condensate field - the largest of the fields, discovered and put into operation in Russia in the last 25 years.

The field is situated in the Turukhansky district of Krasnoyarsk Territory, 142 kms away from the city of Igarka.

The initial recoverable reserves of the Vankor field by January 1, 2015 are estimated at 476 million tonnes of oil and condensate and 173 billion cubic meters of gas. The acreage of the field is 447 square km.

In 2014, Vankor produced 22 million tonnes of oil which exceeds the results of 2013 by more than 3 percent. The daily output is more than 60,000 tonnes.