Duma approves PSA for Severo-Astrakhansky oil and gas field
The Russian State Duma, the lower house of parliament, decided to approve a production-sharing agreement (PSA) for
Severo-Astrakhansky, an oil and gas field in the Astrakhan region, in the third and final round of voting. Approval
of the PSA clears the way for the field's operator Astrakhannefteprom, a 50-50 joint venture set up by the pipeline
construction company Stroitransgaz and the Astrakhan region's state property fund, to begin work.
The cost of development is expected to hit $ 4.2 bn because the field's structure is complicated and the reserves are
located very far below the surface. Astrakhannefteprom will have to engage in deep drilling to tap into
Severo-Astrakhansky's estimated 365 mm tons of crude oil and 144 bn cm of natural gas.
The regional government has tried to persuade Agip to help develop the deposit, but the Italian oil company appears
to be more interested in working with Gazprom in the Astrakhan region.
