Shell and Gazprom Neft have decided to create a joint venture to develop license blocks in the Yamalo-Nenets Autonomous Okrug, in Russia. Shell will thus acquire a 50% stake in the share capital of Meretoyakhaneftegaz, which holds licensing rights to the Meretoyakhinskoye field, along with license blocks at various stages of development, namely the Tazovsky and Severo-Sambrugsky blocks, and two Zapadno-Yubileiny blocks in the Yamalo-Nenets area. Overall, Meretoyakhaneftegaz's total oil resources in place are estimated at around 1.1 Gt.
Gazprom Neft is a vertically-integrated oil company, active in oil and gas exploration and production, refining, and oil products production and sale in Russia. In 2018, it produced nearly 93 Mtoe of hydrocarbon, refined 43 Mt of products and sold 11 Mt of oil products through its service station network. The group has been long collaborating with Shell. Partners are involved in developing the Salym group of oil fields, including the Zapadno-Salymskoye, Verkhnesalymskoye and Vadelipskoye blocks in the Khanty-Mansi Autonomous Okrug.