Trading firms clinch Vostok Oil stake

Trading firms Vitol and Mercantile and Maritime Energy are ready to take a stake in state-controlled Rosneft's Vostok Oil project in the Russian Arctic, following in the footsteps of trading giant Trafigura, in a deal that is likely to provide access to future output from the project.

Vitol and Singapore-based Mercantile and Maritime Energy have signed a preliminary agreement with Rosneft to buy a 5pc stake in Vostok Oil, subject to regulatory and corporate approval. Based on the Trafigura deal, the partners could be paying around €3.5bn ($4.3bn) for their Vostok Oil stake.

Trafigura, the top buyer of Rosneft's seaborne crude exports, acquired a 10pc stake in Vostok Oil from Rosneft at the end of last year, paying €7bn. The deal is expected to provide the trading firm with long-term crude supply opportunities.

Rosneft has started construction of a 600,000 b/d crude terminal for Vostok Oil to be ready in 2024, with capacity expanding to 1mn b/d in 2027 and to 2mn b/d in 2030. Vostok Oil will unite fields operated by recently acquired Rosneft upstream subsidiary Taimyrneftegaz — including the 1.2bn bl Payakha group of fields and unexplored blocks on Taimyr — as well as the producing 3.8bn bl Vankor, 408mn bl Suzun and 1.8bn bl Tagul fields, and the under-development 533mn bl Lodochnoye field and Baikalovsky blocks in eastern Siberia. The project's total crude reserves could be 36.5bn bl, Rosneft says.

By John Gawthrop