MOSCOW, January 28 (RIA Novosti) – Russia’s largest oil company Rosneft has signed a deal to acquire private oil firm Surgutneftegaz’s stake in the National Oil Consortium developing the giant Junin-6 oil field in Venezuela, Rosneft said.
The deal was signed during a meeting between Rosneft CEO Igor Sechin and Surgutneftegas head Vladimir Bogdanov in Moscow on January 25.
“The Russian Government has approved the deal. This transaction is now complete,” Rosneft said in a statement.
Before the deal, the National Oil Consortium comprised Russia's large oil companies Gazprom Neft, Rosneft, TNK-BP, Surgutneftegas and LUKoil, each holding equal stakes.
Surgutneftegaz announced in November 2012 that it planned to sell its stake in the consortium. There were reports that TNK-BP might also quit the project.
The National Oil Consortium holds a 40 percent interest in the Junin-6 project while Venezuela’s state oil and gas company PDSVA owns 60 percent.
The 447.85 square kilometer Junin-6 block is located in the Orinoco Belt, and has geological reserves of 52.6 billion barrels of oil, with 10.96 billion barrels of recoverable reserves.
Total development costs for Junin-6 are estimated at nearly $25 billion. At peak production, the field is expected to produce up to 450 thousand barrels per day (about 22.5 million tons of oil per year), according to information on the Gazprom Neft website.
