OREANDA-NEWS. March 05, 2011. Today at the Gazprom headquarters Alexey Miller, Chairman of the Company's Management Committee and Vagit Alekperov, President of LUKOIL signed an Agreement on Gas Supply from the Bolshekhetskaya Depression and the Northern Caspian Sea.

Pursuant to the Agreement, LUKOIL will supply Gazprom with natural gas from the Bolshekhetskaya Depression fields between 2012 and 2016. Gas will be fed into Gazprom's gas transmission system (GTS) near the Yamburgskaya compressor station. The document defines the amount of gas supply that is expected to reach 8.35 billion cubic meters in 2012. At the same time, potential alteration in the respective amounts depend on when the Bolshekhetskaya Depression fields are brought onstream and how Gazprom's GTS is loaded.

According to the document, once LUKOIL beings gas production from the Northern Caspian Sea fields, Gazprom will make best efforts to receive all of the gas into its GTS as well as to supply equivalent amounts to LUKOIL Group under the exchange schemes.
Background

Cooperation between Gazprom and LUKOIL is based on the General Agreement on Strategic Partnership for 2005 through 2014 inked in March 2005.

The Agreement envisages joint delivery of projects related to oil and gas exploration and development in the Yamal-Nenets Autonomous Okrug, the Nenets Autonomous Okrug, the Russian sector of the Caspian Sea, the Republic of Uzbekistan and other regions as well as deeper cooperation on oil and gas condensate shipment from the northern Nenets and Yamal-Nenets Autonomous Okrugs.

According to the previous Agreement signed between Gazprom and LUKOIL in March 2003, LUKOIL was to supply gas from the Nakhodkinskoye gas field of the Bolshekhetskaya Depression to the YaNAO. In October 2003 the parties entered into the Agreement on Gas Supply from the Nakhodkinskoye field by LUKOIL. Deliveries were scheduled to start in 2005.