Russia's State Oil Firm Won Auction for Operating on North

Russian state oil giant Rosneft won the auction in Moscow for the right to develop the North-Charsky prospective petroleum site.

The prospect is located on the border between the Dolgano-Nenets (Taimyr) and Yamal-Nenets autonomous districts.
Rosneft bid 4.73 billion rubles (US$175.8 million) for exploration and production rights at the site.

According to the estimates of Rosneft specialists, recoverable resources at North-Charsky site are forecast at 35 million tons of oil and 20 billion cubic meters of natural gas. The site is close to the Vankor Field, where commercial oil production is scheduled to commence in 2008.

Rosneft?s participation and success at the auction are part of the company?s ongoing strategy to increase oil production through prospective reserves in the East Siberian region. The strategy involves the integrated development of East Siberian fields, which will become the main source of crude for the East Siberia -Pacific Ocean strategic export oil pipeline.

At the start of this year, Rosneft won auctions for exploration and production rights at the Tukolandsky, Vadinsky, and Pendomayakhsky sites--also located in the Yamal-Nenets and Dolgano-Nenets (Taimyr) Districts and in the Krasnoyarsk Territory. According to Rosneft data, the estimated recoverable resources of these sites total 50 million tons.