LUKOIL Overseas Begins Seismic Survey on Black Sea Blocks

MOSCOW, September 17, 2012 /PRNewswire/ --

The 3D seismic acquisition survey, carried out by LUKOIL Overseas, LUKOIL's subsidiary, is underway on East Rapsodia and Trident blocks in the Romanian Sector of the Black Sea.

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Seismic operations are being carried out by geophysical services provider CGGVeritas, after it won the respective tender, and will be completed in November 2012. The planned scope of the survey will be up to 2,000 square kilometers. Therefore for the first time in its history LUKOIL has begun upstream operations in a European Union member country.

The East Rapsodia and Trident projects are being implemented by a consortium of investors, which includes LUKOIL Overseas (80%, operator) and Vanco International (20%). The consortium was awarded the right to implement these projects as a result of the tender held in June 2010. Concession agreements for the blocks were signed in February 2011 and ratified by the Romanian Government in October 2011. An environmental impact assessment was carried out on the projects, public environmental hearings were held and required permits were obtained from state and local authorities.

The East Rapsodia and Trident blocks are located in the Black Sea where water depths range from 90 to 1000 meters. The distance to the coastline is 60-100 kilometers; the nearest big city and port on the coast is Constanta. The combined area of the license blocks is about 2,000 square kilometers. LUKOIL Overseas has opened an office in Bucharest to manage these projects.

LUKOIL Overseas, a growing upstream oil and gas company, is an integral part of the Russian oil group LUKOIL. Exploration, acquisition, integration and, subsequently, efficient development of oil and gas fields in a number of foreign countries - these are the priorities of LUKOIL Overseas. The Company manages 28 oil and gas production and exploration projects in 13 countries. As of January 1, 2012, the Company's audited proved reserves were 1.4 billion barrels of oil equivalent. Oil and gas condensate production was around 4.7 million tons (5.1% of LUKOIL's total oil production), while gas production was around 5.5 billion cubic meters (or 24.7% of LUKOIL's gas production). Revenues were $ 2.9 billion, EBITDA was $1.6 billion, investments reached $1.6 billion and tax payments totaled $1 billion.