Spanish energy company Repsol and Russian energy company Gazprom’s subsidiary Gazprom Neft have signed a memorandum of understanding to increase their collaboration in West Sibera and to jointly explore investment opportunities.
New explorations are expected to take place near the existing exploration licences owned by Repsol's affiliate Eurotek Yugra.
Repsol and Gazprom Neft own a stake of 75% and 25% respectively in Eurotek Yugra, which owns seven exploratory blocks in the West Siberian region, a relatively unexplored area of Russia. The region is claimed to have a significant potential.
Gazprom Neft claims to have an option to increase its stake from 25% to 50% in Eurotek Yugra.
In 2014, Repsol announced two hydrocarbon discoveries in the Karabashsky 1 and 2 blocks in the area.
According to the Ministry of Natural Resources and Environment of the Russian Federation, the blocks are estimated recoverable resources of 240 million barrels of oil equivalent.
Evrotek-Yugra owns exploration and production licenses for the Karabashsky 1 and Karabashsky 2 blocks, in addition to licenses for geological prospecting at the Karabashsky 3, Karabashsky 9, Karabashsky 78, Karabashsky 79 and Kileysky blocks.
With nine exploration wells drilled between 2013 and 2016, seismic investigations have been carried out at all license blocks related to Evrotek-Yugra.
The Ouryinskoye field, which has recoverable reserves of 33.8 million tonnes of oil, was discovered at the Karabashsky 1 and Karabashsky 2 fields in 2013.
Image: Repsol and Gazprom’s officials after signing the MOU. Photo: Courtesy of Repsol.