Gazprom Neft, JOGMEC team up for oil block exploration
Gazprom Neft's board of directors has passed a resolution to conclude an agreement with Japan Oil, Gas and Metals National Corporation (JOGMEC) to explore the Ignyalinsky oil and gas field in the Irkutsk Region, RBC News reports.
Gazprom Neft's subsidiary Gazpromneft Angara will conduct exploration, while JOGMEC will act as the strategic investor. Investment in the additional exploration of the block is estimated at $100m, most of which is expected to be provided by the Japanese company, Gazprom Neft Deputy CEO Vadim Yakovlev said earlier.
JOGMEC is expected to receive a 49% working interest in the project to develop the Ignyalinsky field. The exploration program envisages a 3D survey of a 450-square-kilometer area before the end of 2013, testing the two existing wells and drilling two others.
The Ignyalinsky field is one of the three fields from Gazprom Neft's Chonskaya group of fields, which is estimated to contain 125m tons of proven and probable oil reserves and 225bcm of proven and probable gas reserves.