ConocoPhillips has closed a transaction with Lukoil for the sale of ConocoPhillips’ indirect 30% interest in NaryanMarNefteGaz (NMNG) and certain related assets for approximately US$400m.
The sale leaves Conoco with only one small asset in Russia, a joint venture with Rosneft. In 2004, Conoco built up the strongest position of any US oil company in Russia, taking an 8 per cent stake in Lukoil that it later increased to 20 per cent. However, the investment failed to deliver the benefits the company had hoped for, in terms of access to Russia’s vast oil and gas reserves, and in 2010 it began selling its stake as part of a wider strategic rethink. The last of Conoco’s holding in Lukoil was sold in 2011.
The move contrasts with a recent expansion into Russia by ExxonMobil, which this year agreed an ambitious joint venture with Rosneft to explore in the Russian Arctic.