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Koreans Invest in Kamchatka
The Western Kamchatka shelf will be developed with the involvement of funds from the government of South Korea. It will allocate $362 million to finance geological exploration abroad, mainly in development in Kamchatka jointly with Rosneft. The other location of interest to the Koreans is Iman deposit in Azerbaijan. The Korean KKC consortium, in which the state KNOC has a 50-percent share, will have a 40-percent in the project with the Russians.
Rosneft estimates that reserves at the Western Kamchatka site may be 800 million tons of oil equivalent. Rosneft president Sergey Bogdanchikov stated last autumn that investments in Western Kamchatka projects would reach about $24 billion. He added that $270-300 million will be invested this year. Investments there since 2005 have totaled $90 million. Rosneft first vice president Sergey Kudryashov stated on Tuesday that $1 billion would be spent on exploration there.
Analysts say that say the arrangement is mutually beneficial. Under a 2005 plan, production is to begin there in 2013 and reach a capacity of 82 million tons per year. Analysts say that plan may be excessively optimistic, however. Technical conditions at the site are difficult and infrastructure is lacking. The closest equipment base to it is Singapore and the need to cross borders creates legislative issues. Bogdnachik has said that, if a commercial oil flow is obtained there, the company will consider building a refinery in Magadan.
www.kommersant.com
All the Article in Russian as of Feb. 22, 2008
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