Nostrum agrees to purchase oil and gas assets in north-west Kazakhstan

Oil and gas company Nostrum has agreed to acquire 50% of Positive Invest, which holds the subsoil use rights to the Stepnoy Leopard licences in northwestern Kazakhstan.

Nostrum will acquire the stake for $500,000.

Nostrum has the right to acquire the remaining 50%, subject to the satisfaction of certain additional conditions. It can acquire the remaining stake at $0.27/boe of proven and probable reserves.

According to the company, the Stepnoy Leopard licences could hold up to 452 million barrels of oil equivalent (MMboe) of in-place volumes. Of this volume, up to 200MMboe could be reported as Contingent Resources while more than 20% are estimated to be liquids.

The licences are located within 60km-120km west of the company’s Chinarevskoye field, 20km from its Rostoshinskoye field, and within 10km of its oil and condensate loading terminal at Beles.

Stepnoy Leopard consists of two licences with eight fields, out of which four fields are gas condensate fields and the remaining four are gas condensate fields with oil rims.

Nostrum CEO Kai-Uwe Kessel said: “The licences contain the largest remaining undeveloped gas-condensate fields in North West Kazakhstan and have been extensively explored and appraised but never developed due to a lack of infrastructure.

“Nostrum will not only be able to leverage synergies with our treatment facilities but also the proximity to our Rostoshinskoye licence will allow us to consider the joint development of these licences which can further enhance the economics of the transaction.”

To be completed in a two-step process, the proposed acquisition will enable Nostrum to tie in further resources around its gas processing facility.

The aggregate consideration for the 100% acquisition of Positive Invest is capped at $52.9m.

Nostrum is engaged in the production, development and exploration of oil and gas in the pre-Caspian Basin.