AKIPRESS.COM - Russian energy company Lukoil will be ready to sign an agreement with Kazakhstan on a new offshore project in the Caspian Sea this May, Chief Executive Officer of the Russian oil producer Vagit Alekperov told Tass.

"We will be ready to sign the contract by the end of May," Alekperov said. Establishment of a joint venture with Kazakhstani oil and gas company KazMunayGas is meant, he added.

Participation conditions will be similar to the ones determined for the Zhenis block.

As reported earlier, Lukoil and KazMunayGas have already established a joint venture to develop the Zhenis offshore block in the Caspian Sea. Companies will start exploration this year, Energy Minister of Kazakhstan Kanat Bozumbaev said earlier.

The parties signed a protocol of direct negotiations on the Zhenis project for the provision of the right of subsoil use for hydrocarbons exploration and production within the framework of joint operations on the Zhenis offshore area in February 2019.