"Talks are underway," Viktor Vekselberg said, adding that no results had been reached but this did not mean talks were deadlocked.
TNK-BP and the Russian state-controlled energy giant have been holding intensive talks on joint development of the Kovykta gas field, which has proven reserves of over 2 trillion cubic meters, in the East Siberian Irkutsk Region.
On March 13, TNK-BP offered Gazprom - appointed in 2001 to coordinate all gas projects in East Siberia and the Far East - a controlling stake in a holding to develop the Kovykta deposit, the largest in the region. The license to develop the field is held by Rusia Petroleum, whose stakeholders are TNK-BP (64.4%), Interros (25.82%), and the Irkutsk regional administration (11.24%). Gazprom has yet to accept or reject the offer.
TNK-BP wants to maintain its stake in Rusia Petroleum, which would develop the field, while Gazprom would keep control of the transportation company to build a pipeline for the field, and would have a 51% stake in the trading company to sell gas on domestic and foreign markets. Foreign sales would need an agency contract to be signed with Gazexport, Gazprom's export arm, which will coordinate negotiations.
The Kovykta deposit is of major importance to the Russian government, which is pursuing an ambitious project to build a gas pipeline network to meet the needs of some Asian nations, primarily energy-hungry China, and to diversify its export destinations.
On April 7, Vekselberg said production from Kovykta could be launched any time and amount to one billion cubic meters a year, but said a final decision on the launch date had not been made.
He said talks on a program to build a unified gas pipeline system in East Siberia and the Far East had been delayed three times, and it was not clear when the issue would be brought up for discussion again.
"We have gotten stuck in obtaining approvals, whereas this project alone could bring Irkutsk Region $18 billion in investment," Vekselberg said.
Alexander Ananekov, Gazprom deputy board chairman, said April 7 that the government would only discuss the program in October, and large-scale development of Kovykta might start no earlier than 2015, as the deposit had not been prepared for massive production.
