Leading international law firm Akin Gump Strauss Hauer & Feld LLP is advising long-standing client ExxonMobil in a joint project with Rosneft to assess “tight oil” reserves at the Bazhenov and Achimov formations in Western Siberia.
Exxon will provide initial financing of $300 million, as well as technology and expertise, for the pilot with drilling scheduled to begin in 2013, and development to start in 2015.
The two companies signed the development agreement on December 6 in Dallas, Texas.
This agreement follows on from an announcement, initially signed in August 2011, that the two companies plan to implement a long-term Strategic Cooperation Agreement to jointly explore for and develop oil and natural gas in Russia, on which Akin Gump also advised ExxonMobil.
International corporate transactions partners Richard Wilkie and Alexey Kondratchik in Akin Gump’s Moscow office are leading the team advising ExxonMobil.
