Tomskneft: sparing Gazprom Neft's blushes
Tomskneft flows to boost Gazprom Neft
Russian oil company Gazprom Neft has said it did not expect organic growth of oil production this year, although output would rise by 14% due to its acquisition of Tomskneft.
Gazprom Neft president Alexander Dyukov told reporters the company expected its oil production to reach 981,300 barrels per day this year versus 863,500 bpd produced last year.
The increase will be driven by company’s deal to buy 50% of Tomskneft, which produces about 240,000 barrels per day, from oil major Rosneft, Reuters reported.
Rosneft bought the unit at a state auction to sell assets of bankrupt oil company Yukos last year.
"We have managed to stop production decline at Tomskneft and are going to stabilise output at 11.5 million to 12 million tonnes per year (86 million to 90 million barreks per year)," Dyukov said, adding that slight production increase is possible at the unit this year.
Gazprom Neft, Russia's fifth-largest oil producer, has been fighting declining production since its former owner, billionaire Roman Abramovich, sold the company, then called Sibneft, to the gas giant in 2005.
Last year's production was flat to the 2006 output.
The company last year approved a development strategy, which envisages production growth to at least 600 million barrels by 2020.
The company said earlier this month it would raise capital expenditure by 36% to 89 billion roubles for this year to increase stagnating output.