Russ Oil-Gas

Aug. 01, 2008 - Kommersant - Gazprom’s proven reserves of natural gas grew 0.6 percent to 18.27 trillion cu. m. by international PRMS standards in 2007. That is 88 percent of its total reserves. Its probable reserves were lowered 1 percent to 2.55 trillion cu. m. and its total reserves thus rose 0.4 percent to 20.82 trillion cu. m. Independent experts say that that is enough to provide for Russia’s and Europe’s needs in full, in spite of the gas monopoly’s falling production at old, large deposits. That news, released for the first time yesterday in an informational memorandum for the new issue of Gazprom Eurobonds, drove the company’s capitalization up $4 billion, and experts say it is still undervalued. The coefficient of the renewal of Gazprom’s reserves is 188 percent. The reserves of Severneftegazprom grew most last year (by 152 billion cu. m. at the Yuzhno-Russkoe oil and gas field). Gazprom dobycha Astrakhan grew by 22 billion cu. m. and OAO Gazprom grew by 704 billion cu. m. The reserves of Tomskgazprom fell from 255.3 billion cu. m. to 36.8 billion cu. m. Thanks to the passage of the laws “On Mineral Deposits” and “On the Continental Shelf” this year, the government decided to give Gazprom without competition ten licenses from the state unallocated fund with reserves of 3.8 billion tons of oil equivalent. Investors view the monopoly’s stock with guarded optimism. Its stock rose 1.5 percent on the RTS yesterday, with the market as a whole rising 0.9 percent. On the MIVCEX, it fell 0.4 percent, along with the whole market.