MOSCOW, July 16 (RIA Novosti) - Stroytransgaz, a major Russian engineering company, is holding talks with Rosneft on selling its 50% stake in a joint venture developing oil and gas fields in Algeria, a business paper reported on Thursday.
"The negotiations are ongoing, and this seems to be an interesting asset for Rosneft. Rosneft thinks likewise," Vedomosti quoted Stroytransgaz CEO Alexander Ryazanov as saying.
A Rosneft representative told the paper that the state-owned crude producer was open to offers.
A consortium of Rosneft and Stroytransgaz won a tender in 2001 to develop the 245-South oil and gas block in Algeria on production-sharing terms. The partners hold 60% in the project on a parity basis, while the remaining 40% is held by Algeria's Sonatrach, the paper said.
Two oil deposits, Eastern and Western Takuazet, were discovered at the block in 2003-2004 and a gas condensate field, Northern Tesselit, was discovered in 2006. Rosneft plans to start production at the fields in 2009-2012, the paper said.
According to Vedomosti, the deposits' reserves have been estimated at 415 million barrels of oil and 24.6 billion cubic meters of natural gas, with proven oil reserves at 36.5 million barrels.
Representatives of Rosneft and Stroytransgaz have not disclosed new data on the deposits' reserves. However, Ryazanov said that the 100% stake in the joint venture was estimated at $600 million or $300 million for a partner. The project's entire cost is put at $1 billion, the paper said.
Algeria's proven natural gas reserves stand at 4.58 trillion cubic meters, the second largest in Africa after Nigeria (5.15 trillion cubic meters). The country's natural gas reserves are largely located in central and eastern Algeria.
Algeria's proven oil reserves amount to 1.58 billion metric tons (11.6 billion barrels), the third largest in Africa after Libya and Nigeria.
Stroytransgaz is involved in the construction of oil and gas facilities in 17 countries. Its major shareholder is Russian energy giant Gazprom.
