Analysts: Caspian Sea projects most promising for LUKoil

LUKoil will begin developing the Dostyk block oil deposits on the Kazakh shelf of the Caspian Sea. The company's press service reported that LUKoil President Vagit Alekperov announced plans to begin prospecting and developing the Dostyk block. LUKoil will likely invest around USD three billion on the project.

Analysts say that the oil company's projects in Azerbaijan and Kazakhstan will be the most successful over the middle-term. Investment company Troika Dialog calls Kazakhstan the most promising region of business activity for LUKoil over the middle-term. Aton company says the Caspian Sea project promises profits because of the large unexplored oil reserves and low cost of excavating.

LUKoil is the largest Russian investor in Kazakhstan. Over the last eight years, it has invested more than USD 1.5 billion in that country's economy. At the present time, LUKoil is participating in seven oil and gas projects in Kazakhstan. The primary source of activity by LUKoil is the prospecting and excavating of oil and gas, production and realization of oil products. In the first half of 2003 the company has profits of USD 2.36 billion, which is 2.8 times more than for the same period in 2002.

© &to=http://www.rosbaltnews.com/' target=_blank>RosBalt