LUKOIL is looking into replacing its reserves over the medium term and is considering acquiring new assets to achieve this, including from the Middle East region.
LUKOIL President Vagit Alekperov said that the oil giant was looking for an annual average reserve replacement ratio of 100 per cent "or slightly higher" over the next 10 years, reported Reuters.
"In Russia there are a lot of assets; we are interested in assets in the Middle East," he said. The company has recently revealed that it has struggled to fully replace its resource base.
Last year, its oil production also fell by around one per cent to 96 million tonnes on greater depletion in western Siberian brownfields.
Alekperov said the company can achieve the full replacement target. LUKOIL is Russia's second biggest crude producer. "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.
Reuters data calculated that LUKOIL replaced only 84 percent of its reserves in 2010.
According to Alekperov, LUKOIL was looking to increase its marketing presence and was building a 350,000 tonne reservoir park near Barcelona to supply the Spanish market with diesel and gasoline shipped in by tankers. This is expected to be built this year.
