08 June 2004 06:51
Lukoil stake in Kandym project in Uzbekistan to rise to 90%
TASHKENT. June 8 (Interfax) - Russian oil major Lukoil's stake in the stock company created for the Kandym oil
and gas project in Uzbekistan will increase from 70% to 90%, a management source at national holding company
Uzbekneftegaz told Interfax.
He would not comment on the reasons behind this change, but said Uzbekneftegaz approves. Increasing Lukoil's
stake in the production sharing project, he said, will spur the Russian company to speed up its implementation.
The Kandym production sharing agreement is expected to be signed June 16.
In July of 2001, Lukoil and MGK Itera inked a preliminary agreement with Uzbekneftegaz on developing the
Bukharo-Khivin oil and gas reason and prospecting the Kungrad block of the Ustyurt region under production sharing
terms. The overall project price tag is estimated at $930 million, direct foreign investment in it at $760 million.
The project operator was to be a specially-created stock company in which Lukoil and Itera each hold 45% stakes,
Uzbekneftegaz 10%. Itera backed out of the Kandym project in the middle of last year, the upshot being
Uzbekneftegaz's stake in this company rising to 30%, Lukoil's to 70%.
Projected gas reserves in the Bukharo-Khivin region are 250 billion cubic meters (bcm), proven stocks at 90 bcm, gas
condensate up to 10 million tonnes. The Kandym deposit is the largest of the deposits, with over 100 bcm of gas. It is
estimated that the maximum extraction volume under the project will be 8.8 bcm per year.
A gas and chemicals complex able to process 6 bcm per year and costing around $250 million is planned for
construction, as are two compressor stations, a 200-kilometer gas pipeline and other production facilities. Uzbekistan
is expected to reap around $1 billion in tax receipts from the Kandym project.
The stock company/operator's other line of operations is geological prospecting work in Ustyurt, where projected
resources are 1.7 trillion cubic meters of natural gas and 1.7 billion tonnes of oil and gas condensate. [RU EUROPE EEU
ASIA EMRG UZ CRU NGS ENR ENQ TRD] cf
[Interfax] |
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