Novatek secures Yamal exploration licence

Russia’s Novatek, the operator of the giant Yamal LNG project, said it has been awarded an exploration and production license for the Nyakhartinskiy area.

The license duration is 27 years and Novatek paid 1.05 billion roubles (US$15.1 million) for the Nyakhartinskiy license located in the Yamal-Nenets Autonomous Region, the company said on Tuesday.

The Nyakhartinskiy license area is located near the Yurkharovskoye field, which is being developed by Novaterk- Yurkharovneftegas, a unit of Novatek.

As of 1 January 2016, recoverable resources of the license area under the Russian reserve classification methodology amount to 215 billion cubic meters of natural gas and more than 70 million tons of liquid hydrocarbons, Novatek said.

Leonid Mikhelson, chief executive and co-owner of Novatek said the acquisition of this license is consistent with Novatek’s long-term development strategy aimed at “efficiently expanding the company’s resource base in its core producing region.”

“It is also important that a significant share of the license area’s resource base comprises liquid hydrocarbons,” Mikhelson added.

1 Russian ruble = 0.015091 U.S. dollars