Eni to fund seismic programs offshore Russia

July 23, 2012
Eni has agreed to fully finance geological studies covering three licenses offshore Russia.

Offshore staff

MOSCOW – Eni has agreed to fully finance geological studies covering three licenses offshore Russia.

This follows the signing of an agreement under which Rosneft will take a 66.67% stake and Eni Energy Russia 33.33% in the Fedynsky and Central Barents blocks in the Barents Sea and the Western Chernomorsky block in the Black Sea.

Expenses for geological exploration outside of the license obligations will be met by the companies according to the equity split. Additionally, Eni will pay the majority of historical costs on completed geological programs on the three blocks.

Eni will recover its investment via cash flow once production starts at any of the blocks. However, Rosneft will not be obliged to return that sum if production does not go ahead.

The license obligations are as follows:

  • At the Fedynsky block: Acquisition of 6,500 km (4,039 mi) of 2D seismic, 1,000 sq km (386 sq mi) of 3D seismic, and the drilling of one wildcat, and one exploration well
  • At the Central Barents block: 3,200 km (1,988 mi) of 2D seismic, 1,000 sq km of 3D seismic, one wildcat, and one exploration well
  • At the Western Chernomorsky block: 2D seismic and 2,000 sq km (772 sq mi) of 3D seismic, and two prospecting and appraisal wells.

Rosneft estimatesprospective recoverable resources at the Fedynsky and Central Barents license blocks at 2 billion metric tons (2.2 billion tons) of oil and 1.9 tcm (67 tcf) of gas.

The estimate at the Western Chernomorsky block is 1.36 billion metric tons (1.5 billion tons) of oil. During 2004-2011, 4,495 km (2,793 mi) of 2D and 3,319 sq km (1,281 sq mi) of 3D seismic data were acquired.

7/23/2012