Gazprom Neft may partake in new oil exploration, production projs

MOSCOW, Aug 16 (PRIME) -- Russian oil company Gazprom Neft may participate in new exploration and production projects, Deputy CEO Alexei Yankevich said in a conference call on Thursday.

“We will try to use our funds in an optimal way. Dividends will definitely grow, like I’ve already said. But on the other hand, a company that is not looking for projects but distributing all the money among the shareholders is bad, it is wrong to work like that,” he said.

“So, we will obviously consider all our business opportunities taking into account that the situation allows us to make more money than we have in operating cash flow. We will definitely look at possibilities of some additional projects, maybe not this year, but next year. It may be done to speed up our upgrade program, or include some other additional upstream projects that will raise our income. We want to create not just a return of 6–7% for our investors, but a higher return on investment.”

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