November 21, 2008

LUKoil buys hydrocarbon assets in Uzbekistan

RIA Novosti reported that Russia's major private crude producer LUKoil has closed a deal to buy USD 580 million worth of oil and gas assets in Uzbekistan.

LUKoil said in a statement that "LUKoil Overseas has closed a deal with the oil company SoyuzNefteGaz to acquire a 100% stake in SNG Holdings Ltd including SoyuzNefteGaz Vostok Ltd which is a party to a production sharing agreement for the fields in Southwest Gissar and Ustyurt Region in the Republic of Uzbekistan."

The deal gives LUKoil access to seven fields in Uzbekistan with estimated reserves of 100 billion cubic meters. The production sharing agreement was signed on January 23rd 2007 for 36 years and came into effect on April 23rd 2007.

An estimated USD 700 million will be invested in the project. The company said USD 70 million has been invested so far.

LUKoil said hydrocarbons from Southwest Gissar fields will be processed at the Shurtan Gas and Chemical Unit while the dry gas produced there will be shipped via Gazprom transportation networks Central Asia-Center and Bukhara-Urals.