"The projects are of special interest to us, as they significantly diversify our business of reinforcing and developing the company's position in West Africa," Andrei Kuzyaev, president of LUKOIL Overseas, said in a statement.
Last year, LUKOIL bought 63 percent in Ivory Coast offshore block CI-205, 15 km from the Baobab oil field, the country's largest.
Ivory Coast state firm Petroci Holding will keep 15 percent in the CI-101 and CI-404 blocks, while Ghana's state National Petroleum Company will hold 15 percent in the Cape Three Points Deep Water block.
LUKOIL, in which U.S. oil major ConocoPhillips has a 20 percent stake, produces over 1.9 million barrels per day, mainly in Russia. It is the most active Russian oil firm abroad.
It has exploration and production projects in Egypt, Venezuela, Columbia, Saudi Arabia and Iran, among others.
The exploration of CI-101 and CI-404 comes under a Production Sharing Agreement signed in 2005 for an exploration period of 5.5 years.
The Cape Three Points Deep Water block is being developed under a 2002 agreement with a seven-year exploration period.
Source: Reuters
To receive regular email alerts, contact us at updates@developmentprogram.org
Click here for Newsletter Archive |
