Rosneft drops from auction for Arctic shelf site, sale cancelled

MOSCOW, Feb 6 (PRIME) -- Russian oil major Rosneft has decided against participation in an auction for development of the Begichevsky oil site on the Arctic shelf of the Laptev Sea, while the government has cancelled the auction, the Yevgeny Kiselyov, head of the Federal Mineral Resources Agency, told PRIME on Tuesday.

“They refused (to participate),” he said.

Previously, the Natural Resources and Environment Ministry planned to announce auctions for two oil and gas sites of the Arctic shelf in the Khatanga Gulf in the Laptev Sea – the Begichevsky and the Khara-Tumus. Later the ministry said that it will auction the Khara-Tumus site on March 21 with an initial payment of 656.36 million rubles.

(56.6278 rubles – U.S. $1)

End