Subscription accessBlocks offered for geological study at the expense of licensees
On 11 August 2009 the Ministry of Natural Resources of the Russian
Federation (www.mnr.gov.ru)
published the list of blocks offered for geological study at the expense of
licensees. The deadline to
submit applications is 9 October 2009.
The list contains 92 insufficiently explored and unexplored oil and gas
blocks. The majority of the
offered areas (51 blocks) are located in Khanty-Mansiysk Autonomous Area.
These blocks contain 16.8 million tons of oil C3 prospective
resources prepared for drilling.
Regarding lower categories D1+D2, Khanty-Mansiysk blocks are said to contain 288.1 million tons of oil
resources and 44.8 bcm of gas resources.
21 blocks are located in
Blocks offered for geological study at the expense of licensees in
Khanty-Mansiysk Autonomous Area (red shading).
Source:
PetroView®
Blocks offered for geological study at the expense of licensees in
|
Blocks for Geological Study at the Expense of Licensees by regions |
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|
|
|
Reserves |
Cond (mmt) |
||||
|
Region |
Blocks |
Oil (mmt) |
Gas (bcm) |
||||
|
|
|
C3 |
D1loc |
D1+D2 |
D1loc |
D1+D2 |
D1loc |
|
Khanty-Mansiysk Autonomous Area |
51 |
16.8 |
0.0 |
288.1 |
0.0 |
44.8 |
0.0 |
|
|
21 |
0.0 |
0.0 |
12.9 |
0.93 |
11.0 |
0.12 |
|
Nenets Autonomous Area |
8 |
3.7 |
5.0 |
49.3 |
0.47 |
10.7 |
0.0 |
|
|
6 |
0.0 |
5.9 |
1.2 |
11.6 |
2.6 |
0.0 |
|
|
2 |
3.0 |
0.0 |
0.0 |
0.0 |
0.0 |
0.0 |
|
|
2 |
0.16 |
0.15 |
0.0 |
0.0 |
0.0 |
0.0 |
|
|
1 |
0.0 |
0.0 |
4.4 |
0.0 |
16.6 |
0.0 |
|
|
1 |
0.0 |
0.0 |
1.0 |
0.0 |
2.0 |
0.0 |
|
Total |
92 |
23.7 |
11.0 |
357.0 |
13.0 |
87.7 |
0.12 |
A Geological Study Licence grants the holder the non-exclusive right to
undertake prospecting activities and appraisal operations in respect of a
discovery. Activities
undertaken must be aimed at determining whether discoveries are capable of
being commercially developed and determining the preliminary boundaries of
the discovery. In the event of
a discovery, the licence holder may be granted an exploration and production
licence,
in respect of the area of the discovery,
without the need for a
tender or auction, at the government’s discretion.
Geological Study and Exploration Licence
investments are risky and typically involve
long-term plans, so companies have shown limited interest in such projects
while market conditions are still weak and the oil price is hard to predict.
In fact, a very few blocks have been licensed for geological studies
at the expense of licensees in 2009.
But some factors may serve as additional stimuli. These factors include an
easy access to oil and gas infrastructure, availability of geological data,
the results of regional prospecting, the quality of prospective oil and gas
structures and the quality of resources.
Whilst these are mostly technical matters, governmental economic and
legal stimuli might play the most important role in exploration activities
in Russia. That would finally ensure proper hydrocarbon reserve replacement
and a sustainable oil and gas exploration and production business in