CEO: Lukoil hopes for sanctions effect ease amid imports replacement

HOUSTON, U.S., Mar 12 (PRIME) -- Russian oil producer Lukoil hopes to ease the effect of Western sanctions by imports replacement, CEO Vagit Alekperov said during the CERAWeek in Houston on Tuesday.

“Sanctions are harmful for us now, they have a negative impact but we hope that this negative period will somehow stabilize and will continue to ease because the replacement of the technologies and equipment continues,” Alekperov said.

He said that sanctions ruined Lukoil’s cooperation with Total, and it has to agree the purchase of any products and equipment with sanctions rulers, which makes the process longer

Alekperov also said that Lukoil had signed an agreement to survey the Karakalpakstan area in the north-west of Uzbekistan and hopes to discover oil there.

“Colossal economic, legal and regulatory reforms are taking place now in Uzbekistan,” Alekperov said. “The company has taken two large projects there – the Gessar and the Kandym group of deposits.”

Lukoil already runs a U.S. $3 billion gas project Kandym-Khausak-Shady-Kungrad where the total production can exceed 200 billion cubic meters.

“The Uzbek economy is now developing very dynamically, not only in the hydrocarbons sphere, but also in the sphere on ferrous and non-ferrous metals, agriculture. We believe in the economy of Uzbekistan, in its policies.”

End