Russia's Resource Ministry is insisting on holding a tender for rights to the Far Eastern Chayandinskoe gas field, which the country's Energy Ministry earlier suggested should be transferred to state-controlled OAO Gazprom (GAZP.RS), the Vedomosti daily reports Friday.
The government has deemed Chayandinskoe and another 30 major fields as strategically important to Russia, meaning development rights can be awarded without a tender. However, the rights should be obtained in an open tender, Resource Minister Yuri Trutnev said Thursday.
The Chayandinskoe gas field holds 50 million metric tons of C1 and C2 - Russian terms for proven and probable - oil reserves and 1.24 trillion cubic meters of C1 and C2 gas reserves.