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Gazprom eyes Lagansky stake 16 July 2007 - Upstream OnLine - Russian gas giant Gazprom may take a stake of 50% plus one share in the Lagansky licence, in the Russian sector of the Caspian Sea, after signing a call option agreement with Swedish explorer Lundin Petroleum. Under the deal, Gazprom has the right to take the stake, Lundin said in a statement. Separately, Lundin said it had signed an agreement with its minority partner in the licence to take a further 30% stake in Lagansky. This would leave Lundin with an indirect 50% minus one share interest in the licence in the event Gazprom exercises its option.

MOSCOW, July 16 (RIA Novosti) - Russian energy giant Gazprom [RTS: GAZP] said Monday it had signed a deal with Sweden's Lundin Petroleum AB to acquire a call option for 50% plus one share in a Caspian oil and gas field. The cost of the planned deal, under which Gazprom will buy the shares in the Lundin-owned company that holds the deposit's license, has not been disclosed. The Lagansky block is located in the Russian sector of the Caspian Sea and has estimated reserves of more than 800 million barrels of oil equivalent. Sweden's Lundin Petroleum AB is an oil and gas exploration and production company with operations in Europe, Africa and Asia. The company is involved in five oil and gas projects in Russia. As of January 1, the company had existing proven and probable reserves of 176.4 million barrels of oil equivalent.