Crescent Petroleum and Russian oil major, Rosneft are to enter into US$630 million joint project to drill for gas in Sharjah.
The state-run oil company joined the Sharjah-based oil and gas firm in a gas concession in May in Sharjah, the first regional project for Russia’s largest oil producer.
In May both companies signed a Strategic Cooperation Agreement which set the framework for the joint pursuit of specific oil and gas exploration and development opportunities in the Middle East and North Africa.
Russia’s Deputy Prime Minister, Igor Sechin, who chairs Rosneft’s board, said the partners aimed to start production in 2013 at the field, which is estimated to contain 70 billion cubic metres of gas and 16 million metric tonnes of gas condensate.
Sechin said the project, in which Rosneft will hold a 49% share, was discussed Saturday by Prime Minister Vladimir Putin and former Iraqi Prime Minister Ayad Allawi, now a legislator, as Moscow is seeking to boost its presence in the region.
In May, Sechin said Russia was keen for projects to drill for gas in Iraq.
Last year, Crescent and its UAE affiliate Dana Gas formed a consortium with Austria’s OMV and Hungary’s MOL that aims to pump enough gas from Iraq’s Kurdistan region to kick-start the Nabucco pipeline to Europe via Turkey.
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