Gazprom, Partners Said to See Former Yukos Gas Field Peak in Decade
Eni SpA's Arctic gas venture with Gazprom and Enel SpA plans to almost triple output in a decade from initial volumes as Russia allows domestic gas and electricity prices to rise.
Production should reach 25 billion cubic meters to 30 billion cubic meters a year (542,000 barrels of oil equivalent a day) in 2020 and remain at that level.
Eni and Enel bought the gas assets and a stake in Gazprom Neft for $5.8 billion at YUKOS' liquidation auctions in 2007, the only foreign companies to win lots. Former YUKOS shareholders said the state expropriated its assets after laying more than $30 billion of tax claims against once was Russia's biggest oil exporter.
The venture, called SeverEnergia, plans to start output next year, reaching an initial level of 150,000 barrels a day of oil equivalent within two years, according to Eni and Enel.