MOSCOW, November 6 (RIA Novosti) – Russia’s largest independent gas producer Novatek has signed a deal to buy a 49 percent stake in Northgas from R.E.D.I. Holdings for $1.375 billion, Novatek said on Tuesday.
The deal is expected to be closed by the end of 2012.
R.E.D.I. is controlled by businessman Farhad Akhmedov who previously expected state-controlled power trader Inter RAO UES to acquire his 49 percent interest in Northgas, a Russian gas producer whose majority owner is the gas monopoly Gazprom.
Northgas holds the license to mine hydrocarbons at the North-Urengoy gas field in the Yamal-Nenets Autonomous Area in the Russian Far North close to Novatek’s extracting, transport and processing facilities.
“The acquisition of Northgas will help us build up our resources base in our basic region, and also increase the company’s production growth rate,” Novatek CEO Leonid Mikhelson said.
Northgas had proven reserves estimated at 1.7 billion barrels of oil equivalent under PRMS standards as of December 31, 2011, according to the US-based petroleum consulting firm DeGolyer MacNaughton.