Rosneft and Eni Sign Agreement to Finance Geological Exploration Works at Three Offshore Russian License Blocks

MOSCOW -- July 23, 2012 -- Rosneft and its subsidiary Val Shatskogo have signed an agreement with Eni Energy Russia B.V. to finance geological works at three offshore Russian license blocks: the Fedynsky and Central Barents blocks in the Barents Sea and the Western Chernomorsky block in the Black Sea .

Under the agreement, Eni will fully finance geological works stipulated in license obligations. Expenses for geological exploration outside of the license obligations will be split between the Companies in line with their stakes in the projects (Eni – 33.33%, Rosneft – 66.67%). Additionally, Eni will compensate the majority of historical costs on completed geological works at the Russian offshore blocks. Eni’s investment will be returned from project cash flows once production is launched at any of the blocks. Rosneft will not be obliged to return the investment if production does not begin.

As was previously announced, on 21 June 2012, Rosneft and Eni concluded a number of agreements to create joint ventures for Russian offshore projects. This was the first step to practically implement their April 2012 cooperation agreement.

Prospective recoverable resources at the Fedynsky and Central Barents license blocks are 2 billion tones of oil and 1.9 trillion cubic meters of gas.  Estimated recoverable resources at the Chernomorsky block stand at 1.36 billion tones of oil.  

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