More Russian oil put on hold
The leading Russian oil companies are postponing the launch of another 29 development projects, among them in the Arctic.
Russian oil companies might be able to make good money also with the current low oil price, but they have major problems with covering costs for new projects.
Russian government documents now reveal that all the main Russian oil and gas companies, among them Gazprom, Rosneft and Novatek, are getting extended license terms in a number of additional licenses. In a recent presentation, Russian Energy Minister Aleksandr Novak presented a list of 29 projects to be postponed, RBC.ru reports.
Several of the projects in question are located in the Arctic, among them Gazprom’s Zapadno-Tambeyskoye field in the Yamal Peninsula. The field is part of the Tambeysky deposits on the northeastern edge of the Yamal Peninsula and located close to Yuzho-Tambeyskoye, the project currently developed by Novatek.
The Zapadno-Tambeyskoye project will now only be launched in 2023, six years after the original time schedule, RBC reports.
The postponement comes after several similar license extensions. In June this year, Russian state mineral agency Rosnedra granted oil company Rosneft more breathing space in seven of its most complex licenses. The license terms of the Arctic offshore projects of Pomorsky, Yuzhno-Prinovozemelsky, Severo-Pomorsky 1 and Severo-Pomorsky 2, as well as the Zapadno-Matveevsky structure, will be up to three years extended, the agency decided.
Rosneft originally applied for a postponement in 10 licenses, Interfax reports.
At the same time, the state-owned company has confirmed that it is postponing planned well drilling operations in the area. A second drilling at the University-1 (Pobeda) field will be not be conducted in 2015. Similarly, the drilling at a new Kara Sea structure, originally scheduled for 2017, will most likely be delayed, newspaper Vedomosti reports.
