TNK-BP puts $10bn into Arctic plans
RUSSIAN oil company TNK-BP, half-owned by BP, will invest up to $10bn (£6.4bn) in Arctic oilfield development and construction of a pipeline to link the fields with the export pipeline, the company said yesterday.
Russia, the world’s top crude producer, is desperate to tap new hydrocarbon resources at the far-flung reaches of the Arctic and east Siberia as its traditional deposits in the west Siberia hinterland are largely depleted.
TNK-BP said it signed an agreement with Russia’s oil pipeline monopoly Transneft to deliver oil into the Zapolyarnoye-Purpe pipeline, which will connect the company’s Arctic deposits with the China-bound trunk.
The oil reserves and resources of the company’s fields in Yamal region are estimated at 5bn barrels.
The 600km pipeline, due to be constructed in 2015-2016, will be part of an oil transportation system connecting Russia’s oil exports from the Arctic region with main eastern and western routes.
The pipeline is vital for TNK-BP’s development of Suzun and Tagul fields. Another link, Purpe-Samotlor, plugs Rosneft’s Vankor oil field, which produces around 300,000 barrels per day, into the East Siberia-Pacific Ocean pipeline, slated for China.
The oil arm of Russia’s gas exporting monopoly Gazprom, Gazprom Neft, together with TNK-BP is developing the Messoyakha oil field, which will also deliver oil into the Arctic pipelines.
TNK-BP plans to start supplies of oil from new fields in the Yamalo-Nenets Autonomous Area and northern Krasnoyarsk region in 2016, while its total upstream investments programme stands at around $45bn for the next 10 years.