Russian oil major Rosneft will outline offshore development
and expansion abroad as the key areas of growth when it publishes its new
strategy later this year, first vice-president Pavel Fyodorov said today.
Fyodorov told a group of reporters in London that
state-controlled Rosneft would soon make an important announcement about
acquiring offshore expertise but said he could not comment whether it would be
a new partnership or an acquisition of assets or a team of specialists.
"Building valuable offshore expertise is a key priority
for us... Offshore is where the company is undervalued by a factor of
three," Reuters quoted Fyodorov as saying.
The strategy would follow the appointment of new chief at
Rosneft last year and a landmark share swap and an Arctic development deal between
Rosneft and BP.
Fyodorov said Rosneft was looking at other partnerships with
global oil majors as it seeks to become one of the world's largest oil
companies.
"We see Petrobras’ offshore business as a model for
us," he said adding the examples of Petrobras and Norway would serve as a
basis for a study which Rosneft would present to the government shortly
regarding a new offshore tax regime.
Speaking about expansion abroad, Fyodorov said Rosneft would
mostly focus on upstream, including in Venezuela and new projects in Africa.
He also said Rosneft was holding back the development of new
East Siberian fields, including the Yurubcheno-Takhomskoye deposits, because it
was inefficient under the current tax regime