New Russian PM grants drilling fields to Gazprom in Arctic

Mikhail Mishustin grants company Gazprom Neft big drilling acreages in the Yamal Peninsula.

Three days after he was announced as Russia’s new prime minister, Mikhail Mishustin granted Gazprom Neft the right to develop oil and gas field Khambateyskoye in Yamal.

The field is located partly on land, partly offshore in the Gulf of Ob. Gazprom Neft from before controls several nearby licenses, and production is in full swing at the Novy Port project located only few kilometers to the south of the Khambateyskoye area.

The new resources in the area could ultimately be connected to a projected natural gas pipeline that is to stretch eastwards across the Gulf Ob. The new infrastructure will cost up to 75 billion rubles, newspaper Kommersant reports.

The Yamal Peninsula is a key priority area for Gazprom Neft. Production at Novy Port was launched in 2014, and volumes sent through the project’s Arctic Gate terminal can reach up to 8,5 million tons per year.

Several more decrees, laws and regulations about Arctic developments are soon waiting for the signature of new PM Mishustin. Among them is a new Law on the Arctic, due to be adopted in the first quarter of the year.