OREANDA-NEWS. November 13, 2012. Gazprom Neft has acquired LLC Korsar, the sole member of LLC Zhivoi Istok, and as a result established control over LLC Zhivoi Istok, which holds licenses to explore and produce oil at the Baleykinsky field and to survey the Uranskaya acreage. Both license areas are located in the Orenburg Region, covering the Novosergievsky District and partially covering the Sorochinsky District 30 km away from Gazprom Neft’s other owned field – the Tsarichanskoe field.

Original oil reserves (C1+C2) confined to both license areas amount to 8.2 Mt. Gazprom Neft's team estimates the resources potential of the field at 30 M tons of oil. The company will continue with its exploration work in order to ascertain the amount of reserves.

Synergies will be created as a result of acquiring the asset by utilizing existing infrastructure at Gazprom Neft’s fields in the Orenburg Region: oil output available from the Baleykinsky field will be treated at the Tsarichanskoe field, while associated petroleum gas (APG) – will be treated at the Kapitonovskoe field.

The Baleykinsky field was discovered in 2006, but seismic surveys have been carried out in the area since 1979. In January 2011, pilot production commenced at the field with oil production reaching 13 Kt at the 2011 year-end. A total of four wells are drilled at the Baleykinsky field.

Vadim Yakovlev, First Deputy CEO of Gazprom Neft, said: "Last year Gazprom Neft acquired three assets in the Orenburg Region and has been expanding its scale of operations since then. Orenburg is the region where the company's production cluster is being set up and this region remains one of our key priorities.

The Orenburg Region has a large number of benefits which enhance business performance, including a well-developed infrastructure, a sizable hydrocarbon reserve potential and lower development costs versus West and East Siberia. Moreover, the short distance between the assets allows us to derive a synergetic effect from their development and successfully implement our plans to build up production in the Orenburg Region within the next few years.”