Ministry of Natural Resources is already considering an issue on LUKOIL’s access to three new subsoil areas in the Russian sector of the Caspian Sea, Caspian Energy News reports, citing the website of the oil company.

The Head of LUKOIL Vagit Alekperov has addressed to RF President Vladimir Putin with a letter requesting to provide the company an access to three areas in the Caspian Sea to hold geological exploration operations: Tuleniy-1, Tuleniy-2 and Tuleniy-3. According to the Media, to get the shelf parts Alekperov offered to use an application principle introduced by the Ministry of Natural Resources in 2016. According to the principle, without holding any tenders, the Ministry provides a license for holding geologic exploration work on a requested area.

It was announced in November 2019 that LUKOIL started the third phase drilling operations on the Filanovsky field in the Caspian Sea. LUKOIL launched production on the field in October 2016. It was discovered in 2005 and became the largest one revealed in Russia over the last quarter of the century. The maximal projected oil production there makes 6 million tonnes per year. The designed capacity has already been reached.

LUKOIL will also participate in developing promising fields in Azerbaijan – Nakhchivan gas field and Goshadash oil-gas field. The agreement on joint exploration of Goshadash oil and gas block, located in the Caspian Sea, was signed in Sochi on September 1, 2018.