The government provided Gazprom Neft with the Ust-Yenisei subsoil block

MOSCOW, September 5 – PRIME. The Government of the Russian Federation provided Gazprom Neft with the use of the Ust-Yenisei subsoil plot of federal significance, located in the waters of the Yenisei Gulf of the Kara Sea, for the search and evaluation of hydrocarbon deposits, without an auction, follows from the order of the Cabinet of Ministers posted on the official Internet portal of legal information.

“Grant… to the public joint-stock company Gazprom Neft the right to use a subsoil block… which are provided for use without holding auctions… for the geological study of the subsoil of federal importance inland sea waters and the territorial sea of ​​the Russian Federation in order to search for and evaluate hydrocarbon deposits… The Ust-Yenisei site subsoil,” the document says.

The fact that Gazprom Neft filed an application with Rosnedra for geological exploration of the Ust-Yenisei site in the Yenisei Bay of the Kara Sea was reported by Kommersant in September last year. The localized resources of the site (category Dl) are 64 million tons of oil and 146 billion cubic meters of gas, according to D1 + D2 (prospective and forecast) – 20.9 million tons of oil and 130.3 billion cubic meters of gas.

The declarative principle assumes that the company conducts geological exploration at the site, determines its reserves and puts them on the balance sheet of the State Reserves Commission. If the reserves are confirmed and the company discovers deposits, then it may be granted an exploration and production license in the future after paying a one-time payment.

The legislation of the Russian Federation currently limits the access of private companies to work on the shelf. In fact, only the state-owned Rosneft and Gazprom have this right. However, the sea shelf boundary begins 200 nautical miles from the territorial sea of ​​Russia, while the declarative principle in the waters of the seas extends to areas located in internal waters and the territorial sea. All Russian companies have the right to use subsoil in the water area up to the shelf boundary.