The 15,488,565 acre area in question is located in the Sea of Okhotsk off the Kamchatka Peninsula's western coast and is estimated to contain 13.2 billion bbl of oil and over 70.6 trillion cu f of natural gas.
"Both companies - Gazprom and Rosneft - have applied," said Anatoly Ledovskikh, adding that it was down to the government to decide on whether to grant a license for a shelf area.
The official said the companies were planning to attract as a foreign partner Korea National Oil Corporation (KNOC), the foreign partner of the previous license-holder, Rosneft.
Rosneft obtained the five-year exploration and development license in 2003 and split the project in 2005 by ceding 40% to KKC, a consortium of Korean companies led and 50% owned by KNOC.
The Federal Subsoil Agency, within the Natural Resources Ministry, refused in July to extend Rosneft's license for the area. The license expired on August 1. Incidentally, gas giant Gazprom has repeatedly mentioned its intention to develop the area.
The regulator's decision was not entirely unexpected. Rosneft's operations in the western Kamchatka area had earlier been criticized by the Natural Resources Ministry.
In mid-December 2007, the ministry said the Kamchatneftegaz project operator was 12 months late in drilling the first exploration well, and seismic prospecting had not been completed to deadline either.
Gazprom's Deputy CEO Alexander Ananenkov said in September the monopoly did not rule out possible cooperation with Rosneft and a foreign partner in order to fulfill the government's instructions to provide sufficient gas supplies to Kamchatka.
Under amendments to the law on the continental shelf, the government can grant the license without a tender.
