OREANDA-NEWS. On February 04, 2007 preliminary results of the operational and economic activities of LUKOIL Overseas in 2007 have been summarized, reported the press-centre of LUKOIL Overseas.

The oil and gas condensate production of the projects of LUKOIL Overseas (all international upstream projects of LUKOIL except for the Tengiz field) totaled 5,17 million tons (5,3% of LUKOIL’s total oil production). The gas production exceeded 2,5 bcm (15,4% of LUKOIL’s total gas production). Thus the total hydrocarbons production of LUKOIL Overseas grew 10,8% against the level of 2006. Also the EBITDA has exceeded 1 billion USD for the first time in the history of the company.

In 2007, the company celebrated its 10th anniversary. The central event of the company’s anniversary year was the commissioning of the Khauzak gas field in Uzbekistan in November. This event became an important step in the implementation of LUKOIL’s gas strategy. The operations at Khauzak are carried out within the framework of the Kandym-Khauzak-Shady-Kungrad mega-project, which is currently the largest investment project in the Republic of Uzbekistan. Within the framework of the Aral project, the PSA of which came into force in January 2007, the investors’ consortium with the participation of LUKOIL Overseas started the 2D seismic survey in the Uzbek sector of the Aral Sea in the autumn of the last year.

The main contribution in the fulfillment of the operational plans was provided by the company’s assets in Kazakhstan. A number of large production and infrastructure facilities were commissioned here. In the course of carrying out the project of developing the Shah-Deniz field, the company’s annual production in Azerbaijan increased multiply against the results of 2006 – from 1,4 to 320 million cubical meters of gas and from 0,3 to 88 thousand tons of oil and gas condensate.

In 2007, LUKOIL Overseas three times announced discoveries of hydrocarbons. In particular, an oil field was discovered in the Medina prospect of the Condor exploration block in Colombia (a joint project of LUKOIL Overseas and Ecopetrol, the state company).  LUKSAR, the joint venture of LUKOIL Overseas and Saudi Aramco, discovered an accumulation of hydrocarbons in the Tukhman prospect of the Block A contract area in Saudi Arabia. Commercial reserves of hydrocarbons were discovered in the Gawaher prospect in the Meleiha block in Egypt. Under this project, the extension of the Agreement until 2024 ratified by the Egyptian parliament went into force in April 2007.

Strengthening its positions in West Africa LUKOIL Overseas signed an agreement for purchasing 56,66% of the share in three exploration projects in offshore areas in the Gulf of Guinea, blocks CI-101 and CI-401 in the continental shelf of the Republic of Cote d’Ivoire and the Cape Three Points Deep Water block in the shelf of the Republic of Ghana.

Developing the cooperation with the leading global oil and gas corporations, LUKOIL signed a number of important agreements in 2007. In February, the Memorandum of Understanding was signed with Qatar Petroleum, and in April a similar document was signed with Pertamina (the state company of Indonesia). In September, an agreement for joint exploration of a number of prospects in the territory of the Republic of Indonesia was signed. Following this event an agreement for strategic cooperation was signed with CNPC, the state petroleum corporation of China.