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LUKOIL Heads for a Plus
LUKOIL has launched Yuzhnaya Khylchuya field, counting on it to end the production decline of this year. This task is expedient for nearly all oil companies of Russia. The country’s oil output slid 0.4 percent by half-year result.
LUKOIL President Vagit Alekperov and President of ConocoPhillips (holds 20 percent in LUKOIL) James Mulva inaugurated Yuzhnaya Khylchuya field in the Nenets Autonomous District yesterday, August 28, 2008. LUKOIL owns 70 percent in the project operator, Naryanmarneftegaz, and its partner holds the remaining 30 percent.
Some 94.1 billion ruble was invested in the field, Alekperov said. The plans of LUKOIL are to produce 7.5 million tons of oil there in 2009 and 2.151 million tons in the remaining months of this year. The launch of the second stage is slated for December 2008.
“Given the seven-month trend and especially July stabilization in Western Siberia, LUKOIL would be able to show 90 million tons by the year-end without Khylchuya,” said Solid analyst Denis Borisov. “If LUKOIL manages to keep his promise and produce 2 million tons from the field, the company will be able to show the 1-percent growth in production of its Russia’s fields.”
According to TsDU TEK, LUKOIL produced 91.42 million tons of oil and gas condensate in 2007, while the January-June amount was 44.5 million tons.
What’s more, the oil that Yuzhnaya Khylchuya is counted on to yield to LUKOIL this year is crucial for the oil output of Russia. The 2007 production equaled 490.7 million tons, and the RF Economic Development Ministry downgraded this year’s forecast in July from between 495 million tons and 500 million tons to 492 million tons. The projected growth will hardly inspire optimism but even this target is yet to be met. The production fell 0.4 percent in the first half of this year and the decline grew to 0.5 percent with July taken into account.
www.kommersant.com
All the Article in Russian as of Aug. 29, 2008
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