Gazprom Shelfproekt JSC is growing by leaps and bounds
22.03.2023
As Kommersant has learned, Gazprom has acquired a 50% stake in Gazprom Shelfproject, a new service contractor in the field of marine exploration. Gazprom Shelfproject was called Aurora until last summer, and its beneficiary was former deputy head of Gazprom Neft Andrey Patrushev. After this company became Gazprom's main contractor for offshore drilling, having received Gazprom's fleet of floating drilling platforms under management, it was renamed. Gazprom Shelfproject expects that the monopoly's participation in the capital will contribute to the "effective development of the hydrocarbon potential of the continental shelf."
According to Kommersant, Gazprom received 50% in the drilling contractor Gazprom Shelfproekt in February. This company, having taken over the drilling rigs of Gazprom's subsidiary Gazprom Fleet and received orders from the monopoly, became its main contractor for offshore drilling last year. Prior to that, the company also performed work for NOVATEK (see Kommersant dated July 29, 2022). Gazprom Shelfproject has significantly improved its financial results over the past year. According to accounting data, the company's revenue increased 2.8 times, to 29.4 billion rubles, profit — 2.6 times, to 4.4 billion rubles. Gazprom informed Kommersant that "a new specialized center of engineering and technical competencies for work on offshore fields is being formed on the basis of Gazprom Shelfproject."
Gazprom Shelfproject added that "the current technological challenges and the withdrawal of foreign partners from the market of services are due to the need for large holdings to search for competencies for existing offshore projects." The creation of the joint venture will contribute to "the most efficient development of the hydrocarbon potential of the continental shelf," the company believes. The terms of the transaction and other beneficiaries of the company are not disclosed.
Until July last year, Gazprom Shelfproject was called Aurora, and, according to official data, its beneficiary and the head of the board of directors was the former deputy head of Gazprom Neft for offshore projects Andrey Patrushev. The management of Gazprom Shelfproject still mentions ex-managers of Gazprom Neft's offshore subsidiaries, which were supervised by Mr. Patrushev. So, the company is headed by the ex-head of Gazpromneft-Sakhalin, Alexander Korobkov.
According to the reporting data for 2021, the service company was jointly owned by Polar Star and Sirius Holding. It follows from the SPARK data that Georgy Rodionov and Anatoly Chiryatyev own 50% each in Sirius. Mr. Chiryatyev and JSC with a similar name, Sirius (owned by Igor Bogomolov, a member of the Board of Directors of Gazprom Shelfproject), as reported by Kommersant in July 2022, entered the capital of Investgeoservice— a large drilling contractor of NOVATEK.
Anastasia Demenkova became the head of the Board of Directors of Gazprom Shelfproject in 2022, she also heads Sirius Holding. This is the name of the former head of the Legal and Corporate Affairs Department of Gazpromneft-Sakhalin. The Polar Star is headed by the former deputy head of legal and corporate Affairs of Gazprom Neft Shelf, Rustam Romanenkov, who is also listed as the deputy head of the ANO Center for Arctic Initiatives, which was created by Andrey Patrushev in 2019 after leaving Gazprom Neft. The owners of the Polar Star are Marina Kazanina (40%) and Neva Invest (60%), to which Mr. Patrushev's 28.33% share in the contractor in the field of marine exploration "Marine Geological Exploration Expedition" passed last year.
It is unclear who was the seller of the Gazprom Shelfproject package, but in 2022, Polar Star transferred 25% of Gazprom Shelfproject shares to its other parity joint venture with Sirius Holding — Aurora Capital. Source
Kommersant
Gazprom Shelfproekt JSC is a service company providing a range of services in the implementation of offshore oil and gas projects, including the execution of works on the search, exploration and development of offshore hydrocarbon deposits, management of design and survey work, integrated project management, and a full range of related services.
Anastasia Demenkova, Chairman of the Board of Directors of Gazprom Shelfproekt JSC
Alexander Korobkov, General Director of Gazprom Shelfproekt JSC
Coordinates of Gazprom Shelfproekt JSC
Address: Moscow, Leninsky Prospekt, d 15 A, Central Park Tower floor 9
Phone: +7 495 128-04-04
E-mail: info@gazprom-shelfproject.ru
