Gazprom postpones accession to Elephant Project until stabilisation

MOSCOW, April 21 (Itar-Tass) -- Russia's Gazprom has postponed
accession to the Elephant project in Libya until stabilisation of the
situation in that country.
The announcement was made at a meeting between Gazprom CEO Alexei
Miller and ENI CEO Paolo Scaroni on Wednesday, April 20, in Moscow.
"The meeting participants noted that due to the ongoing warfare in
Libya the Russian company involvement in the Elephant project and the
field operations will be kept 'on hold' until the situation stabilises,"
Gazprom said.
Earlier this year, Gazprom and ENI agreed that the Russian company
would buy one half of ENI's share in the project for 163 million U.S.
dollars. The project also involves the Libyan National Oil Company. This
would have given Gazprom a 33.33 percent stake in the consortium that
develops the Elephant oil field.
The oil field was discovered in 1997 in the western part of Libya, 800
kilometres from Tripoli. Its recoverable reserves are estimated at 110
million tonnes. Maximum annual production is expected at six million
tonnes.