Rosneft Wins More Yukos Assets In Auction
Published July 13th, 2007
Rosneft won an auction of property and equipment of bankrupt oil firm Yukos on Thursday, paying 5.85 billion rubles ($229 million) for assets that may help the state-controlled major secure large crude reserves.
Rosneft, which has so far emerged as the winner of almost all important Yukos property auctions, beat previously unknown firm Benefit with a bid just 2 percent above the starting price. The auction took less than 10 minutes.
That was two bids higher than the starting price of 5.73 billion rubles, one of the fastest sales this year.
The state oil company bid directly, rather than through a unit, as it did at other auctions this year.
The lot included property rights and equipment at 11 large oil and gas fields, and their owner will have an advantage in booking reserves in the future. The fields are in the Samara region and the Evkenia and Khanty-Mansiisk autonomous districts, where Rosneft produces most of its oil, including the East Salym, Tersk-Komovsk and Sredne-Balyksk fields.
“The acquisition of these assets will allow the company to strengthen its position in these strategically important regions,” Rosneft said in a statement.
Industry experts say the fields may contain hundreds of millions of barrels in probable and possible reserves, further boosting Rosneft’s rich resources base. The firm’s stock rose 3.5 percent to 220.25 rubles ($8.64).
