Nostrum plans to survive low oil prices

Nostrum Oil & Gas has acquired a new hedging arrangement to protect itself from the continued sink in oil prices, CEO Kai-Uwe Kessel of the Kazakhstan explorer revealed Wednesday.

The company has locked in a USD 49.16-per-barrel price for 15,000 bopd for two years, finishing in December 2017. The new strike price funded through the USD 92-million sale of a previous investment position. The new arrangement is valued at USD 150 million.

The company also plans to phase payments on its GTU3 project, the third unit on its gas treatment facility, until 2017. The balancing of payments will have no extra cost, and Nostrum’s total budget will remain at USD 500 million. Drilling will also be reduced in 2016 on three production wells and one appraisal well, while keeping current production levels.

The firm produced an average of 40,402 boepd in 2015, a number lower than expected due to repair work on an export pipeline operated by Kazakhstan’s oil and gas transporter Intergas Central Asia. Nostrum looks to produce 45,000 boepd in 2016, between 45,000-60,000 boepd in 2017 and between 60,000-100,000 boepd the following year.

Nostrum’s main producing asset is the Chinarevskoye field in northwestern Kazakhstan.

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