Meretoyakhaneftegaz currently holds licensing rights to the Meretoyakhinskoye field. A number of license blocks at varying stages of development — the Tazovsky and Severo-Sambrugsky, as well as two Zapadno-Yubileiny blocks in the Yamalo-Nenets Autonomous Okrug’s — will be automatically transferred to the joint venture’s asset portfolio as soon as the transaction closes.

Total resources in place at fields to be owned by Meretoyakhaneftegaz will stand at about 1.1 billion tonnes of oil.

Alexander Dyukov, Chairman of the Management Board, Gazprom Neft, commented: “This agreement marks the logical continuation of our successful collaboration with Shell on a number of ongoing projects. We see in Shell a reliable partner, with whom we are willing to combine professional skills, as well as sharing financial and technical resources, in developing major projects. As part of this new agreement we will be able to reveal the full potential of what is a major hydrocarbon cluster in Yamal, viably and efficiently. We will be investigating further opportunities for implementing projects with Shell in the future, including projects outside of Russia.”

“This is yet another milestone in our partnership with Gazprom Neft. Over the years, we have built a trusted and fruitful relationship. Our Salym Petroleum Development joint venture is an example of how we can create a very efficient, innovative and responsible oil producer by combining our strengths. Our history of success fills me with confidence that our new venture will also be great success”, said Ben van Beurden, Shell CEO.