Lukoil Caspian Field in Limbo

摘要

The fate of the license to the Tsentralnaya (Central) structure in the north Caspian Sea, where a joint venture of Lukoil and Gazprom has discovered 1.22 billion boe of reserves, is still up in the air. Exploration rights expired on Nov. 1 and a production license has still to be issued by Russia's natural resources ministry. CentrCaspneftegas, a 50- 50 joint venture between Lukoil and Gazprom, applied for the license in the summer (IOD Jun.29,p8). Deputy Natural Resources Minister Sergei Donskoy was quoted as saying Thursday that a decision will be made in late 2009 or early 2010.