BP Granted Permission to Buy a 49% Stake in Yermak Neftegaz

MOSCOW (Spuntik) – The Federal Antimonopoly Service (FAS) has issued a permit for Britain’s BP to buy a 49 percent stake in Yermak Neftegaz, a new joint venture created with Rosneft, the FAS press service reported.

“The Federal Antimonopoly Service has considered, and has decided to approve, the application from BP Russian Investments Limited to purchase a 49 percent stake in the share capital of Yermak Neftegaz LLC,” the FAS said.

In June, Rosneft and BP signed final binding agreements to create a new joint venture, Yermak Neftegaz LLC, to conduct exploration in West Siberia and the Yenisei-Khatanga basin of the Russian Federation. BP will provide up to $300 million in two phases as its contribution to the cost of the joint venture’s activities at the exploration stage. Rosneft will contribute licenses and operational capacities in West Siberia and Yenisei-Khatanga, with initial drilling to be performed by Rosneft subsidiaries.

The joint venture will focus on onshore exploration of two Areas of Mutual Interest (AMIs) in the West Siberian and Yenisei-Khatanga basins, covering a combined area of about 260,000 square kilometers.

Rosneft will own 51 percent and BP 49 percent in Yermak Neftegaz. At the initial stage, the joint venture will carry out further appraisal work on the Baikalovsky field, discovered by Rosneft in the Yenisei-Khatanga AMI in 2009, and will also conduct exploration work on the Zapadno-Yarudeiskoye, Kheiginskoye and Anomalnoye licenses in the West Siberian AMI.