Russ Oil-Gas

10-30-2006 Kommersant - Gazprom Neft is negotiating for creating crude oil production ventures with Shell, Total, Statoil and Chevron in an effort to get cross-border assets in future. At the same time, Gazprom’s subsidiary joined the battle of Rosneft and LUKOIL for refineries in Europe and Middle East.
The company “is considering a raft of proposals for joint activities to explore and produce crude oil abroad,” said Gazprom Neft Vice President Reval Mukhametzyanov, meaning the assets in the Arab states, Africa and Kazakhstan.
In return, the foreigners are offered joint projects in traditional area of Gazprom Neft – Yamal-Nenets Autonomous District, Khanty-Mansi Autonomous District and Tomsk Region. Gazprom Neft possesses no assets in the far abroad countries yet. Past summer however, the company acquired a retail chain of 77 petrol stations in Kyrgyzstan. The negotiations are underway with French Total, Britain’s-Dutch Shell, Norwegian Statoil and U.S. Chevron, Mukhametzyanov specified.
The talks with Chevron have reached the final stage, a source familiar with the situation said on condition of anonymity. Chevron neither confirmed nor denied the information. Shell said it is permanently in talks with Russia’s partners about joint projects, and Statoil and Total declined to comment.