Bourse-listed Petrolinvest, an oil-exploration firm partly owned by tycoon Ryszard Krauze, confirmed the presence of oil in the Zhubantam field in Kazakhstan last week. According to seismic analysis the deposit holds an estimated 1.2 billion barrels, with 250 million barrels extractable.
Extraction may begin by the end of the year. "We will use all available technology to get the oil to the surface," said Paweł Gricuk, Petrolinvest's president.
The total investment program for this year amounts to around $200 (zł.544.7) million and, with the discovery of oil, this is expected to increase to $400-500 million in 2008. Research is also being carried out in the Dautskoye and OTG oilfields, where the amount of oil is estimated to reach 122 million and 700 million barrels, respectively.
Petrolinvest, which has already invested in four firms in Kazakhstan, is working to acquire a group of oil extracting companies in Russia. A letter of intent was signed in July and this month saw the signing of a three-month preliminary agreement, the key elements of which include drawing up a capital structure for the group, carrying out due diligence and other work.
The purchase is to be completed two weeks before the agreement expires. If all goes well, Petrolinvest will gain access to oil deposits worth 56 million barrels, with a daily extraction of 12,000 barrels, according to estimates from oil and gas consultancy Miller & Lents. The firm plans a new share issue, likely to take place this year, in order to finance the takeover.
Yet, it will take time for the investments to translate into tangible financial profits, said Sobiesław Kozłowski, an analyst from BM Bank BPH DM. "We will have to wait for the final result," he told WBJ. As for the fact that Ryszard Krauze is being sought for questioning by authorities in connection with a Central Anti-corruption Bureau investigation, Kozłowski said it would probably not affect the company's activity.
