OREANDA-NEWS. December 04, 2009. In the presence of Mr. Vladimir Putin, Prime Minister of the Russian Federation and Mr. Francois Fillon, Prime Minister of France, BNP Paribas and TNK-BP signed two milestone agreements for cooperation under the Kyoto protocol to the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change, reported the press-centre of BNP Paribas.

The first agreement is for the purchase of carbon credits generated by the Samotlorneftegas project, which will capture and utilise 90 million cubic meters of associated gas previously flared at the Samotlor oil field. On this transaction BNP Paribas provided TNK-BP with a purchase of carbon credits and pre-financing structure of the proceeds of the sale.

The second agreement is for the development of two new CO2 emissions reduction projects, the "Vakhitovskoe Associated Gas Utilization" and the "Rodnikovskaya Power Plant Construction," between BNP Paribas and TNK-BP.

These agreements were signed by Mr. V. Vekselberg, Executive director of TNK-BP, and Mr. J. Lemierre, Advisor to the Chairman of BNP Paribas.

“We are pleased that the emission reduction purchase contract with regard to associated gas utilisation at the Samotlor oil field will provide a material contribution to implementing an intergovernmental agreement between Russia and France on joint implementation of projects under the Kyoto protocol,” said Victor Vekselberg, Executive Director of TNK-BP.

“With this signature, both the French and Russian authorities demonstrate their belief that Joint Implementation projects can be successfully developed in Russia, and we expect formal approval very soon,” said Sylvain Goupille, Deputy Head of Carbon finance at BNP Paribas. “This signature demonstrates the high level of cooperation between the French and Russian administrations. It also emphasises BNP Paribas' strength in the carbon markets and confirms our leadership in this field,” added Simon Dent, Head of Power, Gas and Emission trading at BNP Paribas.