LUKoil rose the most in a week in Moscow trading after winning a contract in Iraq and buying a stake in a Kazakh venture from BP.
LUKoil rose 1.5 percent to 1,624 rubles, its first advance in six sessions, extending its gain this year to 68 percent.
The company won a contract to develop Iraq’s supergiant West Qurna-2 oil field, the largest offered to foreign investors in a bidding round on Dec. 12. A day earlier, BP said it divested its interest in Kazakhstan’s Tengiz field by selling its 46 percent stake in Lukarco to LUKoil for $1.6 billion in cash.
Gazprom Neft estimates that Iraq’s Badra field has reserves of 2 billion barrels of oil equivalent and expects to consolidate the field’s future output in its reporting, it said Monday.
Gazprom Neft will operate the deposit and plans to start work at the field next year, it said. The company will have a 30 percent stake in the venture, it said.
Gazprom Neft led the only group bidding for rights to develop Badra as the Middle Eastern crude producer held its second bidding round last week. The group pledged to raise output to 170,000 barrels of oil a day at a fee of $5.50 a barrel. The field has reserves of about 100 million barrels of oil, according to U.S. Energy Department estimates.
“Despite the fact that we got a service contract, we expect that with certain provisions, we will be able to consolidate Badra’s production in our reports,” Gazprom Neft said. “This achievement is a significant step in implementing our strategy to strengthen our positions on foreign markets.”
Kogas will hold 22.5 percent in the venture, Petronas 15 percent, TPAO 7.5 percent and the Iraqi government will hold 25 percent.