Gazprom Neft pursues Iran and Cuba oil projects to expand resource base

Moscow: Gazprom Neft, the oil arm of Russian energy firm Gazprom, is looking to expand its foreign operations into Cuba and Iran, which are both hindered by trade sanctions.

The company is actively seeking to increase its resource base to meet an ambitious oil output goal of 100,000 million tonnes a year by 2020, up from around 60,000 million.

"Gazprom Neft wants to join Petronas' project in Cuba," Gazprom Neft head Alexander Dyukov said during the company's annual shareholders meeting.

His deputy, Boris Zilbermints, said the firm aimed to clinch a deal in July.

Zilbermints also said the company was keen to conclude preliminary talks to develop the Anran oilfield in Iran by the end of the summer, but implementing the deal would depend on the United Nations changing its trade sanctions on the country.

Last November, Gazprom Neft, Russia's fifth-largest oil producer, signed a memorandum of understanding with the National Iranian Oil Co (NIOC) to study the development of another two Iranian oilfields, Azar and Shangule.

Cuba estimates it has 20 billion barrels of oil-abundant in its section of the Gulf of Mexico that abuts the US and Mexican zones of the gulf.

Cuba also presents some difficulties for the development of hydrocarbon reserves as the country falls under a US-imposed trade embargo.