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Gazprom Neft to pay $83 mln by Aug 9 for Garmian project

According to Gazprom Neft, the resource potential of the two deposits exceeds 500 million tonnes of oil equivalent

MOSCOW, August 2 (Itar-Tass) — Gazprom Neft will pay by August 9, 2012 a sum of 83 million US dollars for entering the Garmian project in Kurdistan, Canada’s WesternZagros, which has become a partner of Gazprom Neft in the project, said in a release.

Under the production sharing agreement that was signed with the Iraqi Kurdistan Regional Government on the development of the Garmian block, Gazprom Neft will gets 40 percent, the same as its partner WesternZagros, and remainder of the package is assigned to the regional government.

According to the Canadian company, its net income from the transaction, which must cover half of the past costs will be 56 million US dollars and the remaining amount will be paid to the government of Kurdistan.

In the future, the partners will on a parity basis finance the geological prospecting work on the field.

According to WesternZagros, the operator functions will be transferred to Gazprom Neft after the beginning of the deposit’s commercial exploitation.

According to earlier Itar-Tass reports, on Wednesday, Gazprom Neft signed with the Iraqi Kurdistan Regional Government two production sharing agreements on the Garmian and Shakal blocks, located in the south of Kurdistan. Gazprom Neft in the projects will be represented its subsidiary - Gazprom Neft Middle East B.V. At present, geological prospecting work continues at these blocks that is to be completed by 2015 and the hydrocarbons production is to begin.

In the Shakal block the share of Gazprom Neft will be 80 percent, the remaining share is assigned to the government of Kurdistan.

According to Gazprom Neft, the resource potential of the two deposits exceeds 500 million tonnes of oil equivalent.

Gazprom Neft’s aggregate payments, inclusive of the compensation for past costs, will stand at around 260 million US dollars. Also, the company is expected to invest no less than 150 million dollars in the two projects before 2015. The production-sharing principle envisions compensation for the expenses sustained by the investor after the start of commercial production of mineral resources.

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