Russia to sell Erginskoye on July 12, starting payment 7.4 bln rbl

MOSCOW, May 4 (PRIME) -- The Russian government has scheduled an auction for the Erginskoye oil deposit for July 12 with the starting payment standing at 7.4 billion rubles, Natural Resources and Environment Minister Sergei Donskoi told reporters on Thursday.

“The auction of the Erginskoye field will be held on July 12. An order of the Federal Mineral Resources Agency was approved today on the basis of a corresponding ruling made by the government on May 3. The ruling changed the terms, the volume of reserves, and the starting price. The initial payment will amount to 7.4 billion (rubles),” he said.

In March, Donskoi said that the ministry was preparing amendments to a government ruling on the auction, but the Federal Mineral Resources Agency announced the auction before the amendments had been made. The starting price was set at 7.1 billion rubles, while bids were to be taken until May 12 and results were to be announced on June 7.

In early April, the ministry cancelled the auction to raise the starting price.

The field’s recoverable oil reserves amount to 18.842 million tonnes under the C1 category and to 83.877 million tonnes under the C2 category. Previously, oil companies Rosneft, Gazprom Neft, and Lukoil expressed interest in the field.

(57.0927 rubles – U.S. $1)

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