PRESS: Lukoil asks Putin for 3 Caspian shelf fields for exploration

MOSCOW, Jan 28 (PRIME) -- Russian oil producer Lukoil CEO Vagit Alekperov has asked President Vladimir Putin for three unexplored land plots on the Caspian Sea shelf for geological exploration, business daily Kommersant reported on Tuesday, citing a copy of the letter.

Alekperov said that Lukoil’s affiliate Lukoil-Nizhnevolzhskneft lacked new exploration projects and asked to give it the Tyuleniy-1, Tyuleniy-2 and Tyuleniy-3 blocks on the Tyuleny Island.

Alekperov said that the Natural Resources and Environment Ministry can issue licenses for the blocks and give them away for geological exploration without auction if there are no contenders for the land.

Putin ordered on January 17 that Natural Resources and Environment Minister Dmitry Kobylkin work and report on the issue.

Barred from the Arctic shelf projects, Lukoil develops the Filanovsky and Korchagin fields in the Caspian Sea and produces about 7 million tonnes of oil per year.

End