MOSCOW, November 1. /TASS/. Oil majors Rosneft and BP have announced the completion of the deal to create a new joint venture, Yermak Neftegaz LLC, "to conduct exploration in the West Siberian and Yenisey-Khatanga basins in the Russian Federation," the companies said in a joint press release on Tuesday.

According to the report, the JV will "focus on the onshore exploration of two Areas of Mutual Interest (AMIs) in the West Siberian and Yenisey-Khatanga basins covering a combined area of approximately 260,000 square kilometers." Yermak Neftegaz is owned 51 per cent by Rosneft and 49 per cent by BP, the report said.

The joint venture will carry out further appraisal work by starting the drilling of the Bkl-21 well on the 2009 Rosneft-discovered Baikalovskiy field inside the Yenisey-Khatanga AMI and will commence seismic surveys of the Zapadno-Yarudeiskoye block in the West Siberian AMI in the coming winter season (2016-17). Also, the plan is to conduct geological exploration of the Kheiginskoye and Anomalnoye licenses in the West Siberian AMI.

Prior to the completion of the deal, the JV partners took a decision to participate in an auction for two E&P license blocks in Krasnoyarsk region - Verknekubinskiy and Posoyskiy, located within the Yenisey-Khatanga AMI, the report said. On October 28, 2016 Yermak Neftegaz LLC won the auctions for both exploration and production licenses. Thus, the joint venture holds 7 licenses for the use of subsurface resources.

Exploration activities in the two AMIs will include regional studies, acquisition of seismic data and drilling of exploration wells. BP will provide up to $300 million in two phases as its contribution to the cost of the JV’s activities at the exploration stage, while Rosneft will contribute licenses and operational experience in West Siberia and Yenisey-Khatanga with initial drilling to be performed by Rosneft subsidiaries, the report said.

On September 14, Russia’s Federal Antimonopoly Service (FAS) approved BP’s request to buy a 49% stake in Yermak Neftegaz. Earlier Germany’s antitrust regulator approved the transaction on BP’s acquisition of a stake in the company.

Rosneft and BP signed final binding agreements for the new joint venture at the St. Petersburg International Economic Forum (SPIEF) in June 2016.