Russ Oil-Gas

06 February 2008 - Upstream OnLine - Gazprom Neft, Russian gas giant Gazprom's oil arm, has booked a reserves replacement ratio of more than 350%, adding that the figure was even higher with acquisitions. Gazprom Neft said in a statement its oil and gas condensate recoverable reserves rose by 148 million tonnes last year under the Russian C1+C2 classification compared to production of 32.7 million tonnes. Gazprom Neft said it represented a 386% replacement ratio, although Reuters calculations showed replacement stood at 353%. Either of the two figures would be the highest organic replacement ratio by any Russian company in the past years. Last year, Gazprom Neft also acquired half of Tomskneft - which has total reserves of 415 million tonnes - from Rosneft as well as several deposits for exploration at state auctions. With half of Tomsneft's reserves of 207.5 million tonnes and 23 million tonnes of newly acquired deposits last year's additions would be as high as 378.5 million tonnes or 2.78 billion barrels. Gazprom Neft has been fighting falling production since it was bought by Gazprom from the former owner, billionaire Roman Abramovich, in 2005. Last year's production was flat on 2006. The company plans to almost double output by 2020. Gazprom Neft gave no figure for its overall reserves and added gas reserves increased by 8 billion cubic metres last year.