Novatek pays over 7 billion rubles for three Yamal licenses
© RIA Novosti. Aleksandr Kondratuk

Novatek pays over 7 billion rubles for three Yamal licenses

Two subsidiaries of Russian independent gas producer Novatek have won auctions for survey, exploration and production licenses in the Yamal-Nenets Autonomous Area,  RIA Novosti reports, citing the Natural Resources Ministry.

Novatek-Yurkharovneftegas has won the bid for an area that includes the Verkhnetiuteiskoye and West Seyakhinskoye fields. There was only one bid increment at the auction, by 600 million rubles, bringing the final price to 6.4 billion rubles.

Arctic LNG-2 has won the bid for an area that includes the Shtormovoye field with an offer of 1.04 billion rubles. Novatek-Yurkharovneftegas attended the auction but did not put in a higher bid.

Under the license terms, the winning company is obliged to use the license areas to produce liquefied natural gas (LNG) at the LNG plants available in the Yamal-Nenets Autonomous Area. This means that only Novatek could bid for these areas.

It is reported that the Verkhnetiuteiskoye and West Seyakhinskoye fields contain 882.4 billion cubic meters of С1, С2 and С3 gas and 68 million metric tons of gas condensate and oil. The Shtormovoye field reserves are estimated at 479.4 billion cubic meters of С1 and С3 gas and 39 million metric tons of gas condensate.