LUKOIL ASKS PUTIN FOR CASPIAN OILFIELDS WHILE HOPING TO PURCHASE ASSETS OVERSEAS

29 January 2020

SOURCE: KREMLIN.RU

LUKOIL ASKS PUTIN FOR CASPIAN OILFIELDS WHILE HOPING TO PURCHASE ASSETS OVERSEAS

Lukoil CEO Vagit Alekperov would like to gain access to three locations in the Caspian Sea, and he sent an official letter to Russian President Vladimir Putin. With increasingly limited prospects on Russia’s domestic market, Lukoil plans to develop investments in Africa and the Gulf of Mexico.

In his letter to Putin, Alekperov stressed that Lukoil’s subsidiary, LukoilNizhnevolzhskneft, had what he identified as “a shortage of new exploration projects.” Lukoil CEO, therefore, asked for a permit to explore three locations close to the Tyuleniy Island, some 47 kilometers off Dagestan: Tyuleniy-1, Tyuleniy-2, and Tyuleniy-3. Alekperov seeks to obtain a license for geological exploration of the requested site without bidding provided that there are no other companies that apply for the same deposit. Putin handed the letter to Environment Minister Dmitry Kobylkin and ordered him to analyze Alekperov’s proposals. The company is currently developing three deposits in the northern sector of the Caspian Sea. The Vladimir Filanovsky oilfield is where two mining platforms operate, producing 6.1 million tonnes of crude annually while Lukoil has one more wellhead platform at the Yuri Korchagin deposit. The firm’s third and last oilfield, Rakushechnoye, is expected to start commercial oil and gas production in 2023. Domestic oil assets will always bring more cash than any foreign ones, but Lukoil has a narrow room for maneuver on the Russian market. First, Russia belongs to OPEC+, the oil production-limiting deal. Secondly, it is