Gazprom and Rosneft have applied for 43 licenses to develop offshore deposits by 2020, a Russian Natural Resources Ministry official said.
"We can see from this how the licensing map will look until 2020," Denis Khramov, head of the ministry’s Department for State Policy on Geology and Resources Use, said at the Sakhalin Oil & Gas 2010 conference.
Russia is preparing to license the Yuzhnorussky section in the Barents Sea, the Yuzhnochernomorsky section in the Black Sea, the Vostochnoprinovozemelsky sections Nos. 1, 2 and 3, the Khorasyvei-morye section in the Kara Sea and a section at the northern tip of the Chayvo field. Another 23 properties are under discussion.
Gazprom received four shelf licenses and Rosneft one without tenders in 2009-2010. Combined bonuses of 930 million rubles were paid.
Khramov said 45 licenses have so far been issued for shelf projects – 11 of them to Rosneft, nine to Gazprom, six to Lukoil, five to Sakhalin PSA operators and 14 to independent companies.
This does not include annual licenses that the Russian Federal Subsurface Resources Agency (Rosnedra) issues to state organizations for geological studies.
The Russian shelf contains proven listed reserves of up to 1.216 billion tonnes oil and 5 trillion cubic meters of gas, with 50 million tonnes oil and 3 trillion cu m gas in unlicensed fields.
