Lukoil to sell stake in Caspian Investment Resources

Lukoil has announced that it will sell its 50% stake in Caspian Investment Resources to China-based oil refiner Sinopec for $1.2bn.

Caspian Investment Resources, through a number of joint ventures, owns various stakes in four hydrocarbon-production projects located in Kazakhstan.

As part of the above projects, Lukoil’s share in commercial hydrocarbon production equaled 10.2 million barrels of oil equivalents in 2013.

Lukoil will continue to participate in Kazakhstan hydrocarbon production projects, including Kumkol, Karachaganak and Tengiz. In April, the company plans to issue a tender for development of a construction project of a lube production plant in Almaty.

OAO Lukoil president Vagit Alekperov said that the company is interested in investment accrual in Kazakhstan where it performs its activities.

"The company intends to reallocate the investments to geologic exploration projects, including those in the Kazakhstan sector of the Caspian Sea," Alekperov added.

The second largest former Soviet oil producer after Russia, Kazakhstan holds 3% of the world’s recoverable oil reserves and produces around 1.7 million barrels per day.

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Image: Headquarters of Sinopec in Beijing, China. Photo: courtesy of WhisperToMe.