LUKOIL president Vagit Alekperov said the oil major was looking for an annual average reserve replacement ratio of 100 percent “or slightly higher” over the next 10 years.
“In Russia there are a lot of assets; we are interested in assets in the Middle East,” he said.
He was speaking a day after the company revealed its reserves volumes for 2010, when it struggled to fully replace its resource base. Last year its oil production also fell, by around 1 percent to 96 million tons on greater depletion in western Siberian brownfields.
According to Reuters calculations, LUKOIL, Russia’s No 2 crude producer, replaced only 84 percent of its reserves in 2010. But Alekperov believes the company can achieve the full replacement target.
“I’m sure that we, like in previous years, will be able to compensate (output with new reserves) thanks to new discoveries, acquisitions, technologies,” he said.
Alekperov also said LUKOIL, has not decreased oil output in Egypt despite political unrest in the country.
“We haven’t cut oil output in Egypt, we just evacuated families of the staff. Personnel is still working on platforms.”
According to latest LUKOIL data, its output in Egypt in 2009 totaled around two million barrels. The company is also increasing its exposure to Western Africa.
LUKOIL’s vice-president said in an interview in October that output would continue to decline within Russia and that nearly all production increases will come from foreign assets, including those in Africa and Iraq.
Alekperov said LUKOIL was expected to drill 10 exploration wells in Ghana during next three years.
