Sibir Energy now ready to progress to growth and profit

Hi guys

It is clear to me thet Henry has a new acquisition site in mind in order to greatly increase his reserve levels....Where?, is the question, most other majors are already snappin up the obvious available sites.

Could somewhere in Eastern Siberia be the answer (see last paragraph)??

Russian Industry Minister Denies Plans to Nationalize Oil and Gas Sector
Thursday, October 27, 2005
Latest Oilvoice Headlines

On Friday, Oct. 21, Russia’s Industry and Energy Minister Viktor Khristenko spoke to journalists on the eve of his trip to the United States and denied the rumors that Kremlin has embarked on a plan to nationalize the oil and gas sector. The country is only responding to a global trend towards consolidation, Khristenko said.

Calling the nationalization of oil industry “an illusion,” Khristenko said Russia’s industry was combining into a few huge companies in which the state will have 51 percent control. “Consolidation in this sphere was not our idea,” the Russian minister said, quoted by The New York Times newspaper. “We are following world trends, for example Exxon Mobil or ChevronTexaco. There are many examples I could list. These processes are also grabbing Russia.”

Khristenko said Russian companies were bulking up to compete with foreign energy giants. Only companies with the reach and resources to develop major, risky projects would succeed, he said.

Over the past 12 month two state-controlled companies purchased the main production unit of the Yukos Oil Company and Sibneft Oil Company. Yukanskneftegaz was purchased by state-owned Rosneft in December in a contested auction to collect on a huge back tax claim. Sibneft was bought from Roman Abramovich, a billionaire owned of Chelsea Football Club by state-controlled natural gas monopoly Gazprom. The purchase was completed on Friday, Oct. 21.

The cut-rate sale of Yukos was widely seen as a political vendetta against its founder, Mikhail Khodorkovsky, once Russia’s richest man, who was sent to a Siberian penal colony to serve an eight-year sentence for tax evasion and fraud. The price paid for Sibneft, however, was generally seen as competitive. Nonetheless, the purchases have raised concerns that a hard-line faction in the Kremlin would pursue other private energy assets. With the two acquisitions, the government now controls roughly 30 percent of oil production in Russia, a country that exports around four million barrels a day.

Khristenko said further consolidation under state-owned companies was possible, but added that it would be market-driven and that minority stockholders would have a say. Rosneft, the state company that bought the Yukos division, will hold an initial public offering next year or in early 2007, he said. The Energy Minister also pointed out that a subsidiary of British Petroleum merged with Russia’s TNK in 2003 in a consolidation of two private companies, well before state-owned companies bought the Yukos arm and Sibneft.

Khristenko conceded that oil production had leveled off after growth of more than 10 percent annually, but denied that the slowdown was linked to the government becoming an owner of major oil assets, as some analysts believe. In that respect, he said the government was contemplating a relaxed tax regime for developing new oil fields in Eastern Siberia, a sprawling wilderness of swamps and forests devoid of roads or other infrastructure. He said his ministry had prepared a bill to reduce or eliminate taxes on companies exploring such hard-to-reach offshore deposits and fields. Development is seen as key if Russia is to increase production at a time of tight global supply.

Good luck (Reckon SP £4.30plus Monday week!!!)
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