Russia’s Rosneft to offload three oil assets by the end of May

Russian energy firm Rosneft is reportedly planning to divest three oil assets in the southern part of the country by the end of May.

The move is part of the company’s efforts to shift its focus towards the development of the Vostok Oil project located in the north of the Krasnoyarsk Territory, Reuters reported.

In this regard, the news agency cited four industry sources familiar with the matter who said that Rosneft is divesting its southern Stavropolneftegaz, Ingushneft and Dagneft assets, which have a combined oil output of about one million tonnes per year.

Private Russian company Cengeo has already acquired a 51% stake in the Ingushneft field from Rosneft, which is due to complete the sale of Stavropolneftegaz and Dagneft assets by the end of May.

Last year, several analysts said that Rosneft is mulling the sale of some of its ‘brownfields’, or mature assets, in southern Russia, as well as underperforming brownfields in a bid to raise capital required to develop the Vostok Oil project.

Rosneft exports crude oil produced from the Stavropolneftegaz, Ingushneft and Dagneft assets via Caspian Pipeline Consortium (CPC) system, which the Russia firm owns a minority stake in.

However, Rosneft reportedly plans to keep gas condensate exports via a CPC pipeline until at least the end of this year, upon completion of the sale.

Last year, global commodities trader Trafigura acquired a 10% stake in the Vostok Oil project from Rosneft for €7bn ($8.5bn).

At an estimated development cost of more than $135bn (RUB10tn), the project is planned to commence oil shipping via the Northern Sea Route in the Arctic in 2024, according to the news agency.