RusEnergy

June 24, 2008 - Kommersant - The American oil company Chevron will stop operating on the Pyakutinsky and Aikhettinsky fields in Yamalo-Nenets Autonomous Area, which Gazprom Neft contributed to their joint venture, Northern Taiga Neftegaz. Both companies say their partnership remains intact. “The decision was made after two years’ work on geological exploration, drilling test wells and technical studies of the licensed lots,” a Chevron spokesman said. “And although this project did not live up to the initial expectations of the partners, we will be happy to have the opportunity for joint operations in the future.” Analysts say Chevron is more interested in that partnership than Gazprom, and the latter is unlikely to offer any promising fields. Northern Taiga Neftegaz was established in April 2006 to study the Achimov deposits in Yamalo-Nenets. At the time of its foundation, Chevron has a 70-percent share in the joint enterprise, but Gazprom Neft later raised its share to 75 percent. In 2003, when the last estimate was made, the C3 reserves of the Aikhettinsky field were 148.28 million tons and the D1 resources were 50.42 tons, of which 29 million and 8.6 million tons, respectively, were recoverable. In two fields in the Pyakutinsky lot, the Pyakutinsky and Malopyakutinsky, the recoverable C1+C2 resources were 5.6 million tons and 3.8 million tons. Geological exploration showed that the likelihood of discovering commercial reserves there were extremely low. The joint venture agreement between Gazprom Neft and Chevron requires Gazprom Neft to contribute licenses, property on the licensed lots nd intellectual property, while Chevron provides money equivalent to the value of Gazprom Neft’s contribution. Alexander Dyukov, head of the Russian company, said on Friday that a letter had been sent to Chevron suggesting a different lot to explore. No response has been received to that letter yet.