OREANDA-NEWS. September 22, 2010. Six oil and gas companies (LUKOIL, TNK-BP, Gazprom neft, Surgut, Bashneft and Nord Imperial LLC) submitted all the required documentation to the Federal Agency on Use of Subsoil Resources (Rosnedra) and paid the fee to participate in a license tender for the Trebs and Titov greenfields. For some reason, Rosneft decided not to participate in the tender. Meanwhile, the Indian oil and gas company ONGC joined the contest, acting via its subsidiary, Nord Imperial, reported the press-centre of OTKRITIE Financial Corporation.

View: Rosneft’s decision not to participate in the Trebs and Titov tender came as a surprise to us, since we had considered Russia’s largest company to be among the most likely winners. We believe ONGC will probably invite a Russian partner for development of the project, should it win the tender.

We also think that in the absence of state-controlled Rosneft, LUKOIL’s chances to win the tender have substantially increased. LUKOIL controls substantial production and oil transportation infrastructure in the Nenets region, where the Trebs and Titov fields are located. In addition to the large Yuzhno-Khylchuyuskoye field, LUKOIL controls pipelines leading to an export terminal in the port of Varandey.