Tnk-Bp Mulls Projects in Turkmenistan, Kazakhstan, Venezuela

MOSCOW. May 26 (Interfax) – Russian-British joint venture TNK-BP (RTS: TNKO) is studying the prospects of oil production in Turkmenistan and Kazakhstan, TNK-BP President Robert Dudley said in an interview with the Vedomosti newspaper.

Dudley said the company is holding talks with representatives of the Turkmen government on the possibility of receiving sections on the country’s shelf. In addition, TNK-BP is interested in a few non- shelf blocks in Turkmenistan in which several other companies have expressed interest, he said.

The TNK-BP chief also revealed for the first time that the company had looked into the possibility of buying the Turkmen assets of Britain’s Burren, which was bought by Eni for $3.5 billion this year.

Commenting on plans for Kazakhstan, where TNK-BP opened two offices last year, Dudley said the company is looking at various opportunities there and studying their economic benefits. TNK-BP is only interested in projects on land in Kazakhstan and not the Kazakh shelf, he said.

Speaking about the Venezuelan market, where another Russian oil company, Lukoil (RTS: LKOH), is already operating, Dudley said TNK- BP officials recently met with representatives of Venezuelan state company PDVSA to discuss the results of an appraisal of the reserves at the Ayacucho-2 block. Dudley said this is a very complicated project that is still in the early stages of development. TNK-BP will not decide on whether to participate in the project for at least a year, he said, noting that investment in the Venezuelan project could total several billion dollars.

Dudley said all the company’s main shareholders support international expansion, although there are differences of opinion on the economic appeal of some projects in addition to the rates and timing of such expansion.

TNK-BP was set up on a 50-50 basis in 2003 by British Petroleum and a consortium of Alfa Group (owned by Mikhail Fridman, German Khan and Alexei Kuzmichev), Renova (chief beneficiary: Viktor Vekselberg) and Access Industries (Leonard Blavatnik).

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