OMV Yuzhno Russkoye natural gas field acquisition
OMV Exploration & Production GmbH has completed the acquisition of a 24.99% share in the Yuzhno Russkoye natural gas field located in Western Siberia from Uniper SE. The purchase price paid by OMV to Uniper amounts to €1.7 billion ($2 billion). The license will expire by the year-end 2043.
Chairman of the OMV Executive Board and CEO Rainer Seele said, “The closing of this landmark transaction is a further milestone in OMV´s successful delivery on its corporate strategy to establish Russia as a new core region of OMV. Our stake in Yuzhno Russkoye adds 100,000 BOEPD to OMV´s production. This boosts OMV´s total production to more than 430,000 BOEPD.”
Uniper CEO Klaus Schafer said, “Even after this disposal, Russia remains a main area of our business – whether in terms of Russian power supplies via our Russian subsidiary Unipro, or in terms of European gas supply with our longstanding partner, Gazprom.”
Yuzhno Russkoye’s operating history
The Yuzhno Russkoye field has recoverable reserves of more than 600 billion cubic meters, according to Wintershall. The field is approximately 3,500 kilometers northeast of Moscow and was officially commissioned by Gazprom and Wintershall near the end of 2007. Wintershall and Uniper have a partnership to develop the natural gas field. Yuzhno Russkoye was discovered back in 1969 and covers 722 square kilometers.
Wintershall and Severneftegazprom, an enterprise operating under the Gazprom Group, have already had success in the Yuzhno Russkoye natural gas field. In December 2011, the joint venture recovered natural gas from the Turonian formation, reaching depths of 810-840 meters. Two Turonian wells are currently in trial operation and have recovered 320 million cubic meters of natural gas so far. Concurrently, plans for extensive production from the Turonian formation are being developed and production tests should be completed by 2018.
