Co-owners of "Lukoil" Vagit Alekperov and Leonid Fedun (they own 22.7% and 9.8% respectively of the company) owned by another oil business - the US company Panatlantic Exploration (formerly known as Vanco Energy), which is engaged in deep-water oil exploration in the Third World .

Chairman of the Board "IFD Kapital" (controls assets "Lukoil" shareholders) Olga Plaksina, which also holds the post of Chairman of the Board of Directors Panatlantic Group, said of Forbes, that the "IFD Kapital" is one of the shareholders Panatlantic Exploration. The "LUKOIL" declined to comment. Vice President Panatlantic Exploration Daniel Hogan gave of Forbes, that the beneficiaries of the company - private individuals, but their names are not disclosed.

Share of Vanco Energy was bought by Group structures in 2010, when the oil company was experiencing financial difficulties. CEO Rusenergy Agency Yuri Kogtev recalls that at one time there were several Vanco costly projects that bring weak results, - fields with small reserves of oil, do not justify the investment.

Panatlantic Exploration drilling is engaged in the rnot, Côte d'Ivoire, Equatorial Guinea, Colombia and has a joint project with DTEK Rinat Akhmetov at the sea area in the Crimea. According Plaksina business very capital-intensive. The cost of one deepwater wells can reach $ 100 million, but this kind of drilling is very risky, because the chances of success of about 30% in each project. At the same time the parent company Panatlantic Exploration is headquartered in the US "oil capital" Houston. Selecting the city, according to Plaksina associated with the presence of the necessary expertise for the exploration and drilling on the ships in the sea at a depth of 1-2 km.

Groups Investments in Panatlantic Exploration, in the words of a familiar Fedun, has already exceeded $ 100 million. The risks of such projects is very high. Deepwater projects involved a former member of the global Forbes list, the owner of a failed Brazilian oil company OGX Eike Batista. "Lukoil" in 2013, was interested in OGX OGX assets after the decline of quotations c $ 200 to less than $ 5 (now the stock is trading at a price of about two cents), but the deal never took place, said a source close to Fedun. Previously, "Lukoil" interested refuted. Daniel Hogan says,that OGX Panatlantic Exploration and can not be compared.

According to a source close to the "Lukoil", the operational management of the project is provided Fedun. "Leonid Arnoldovich - people restless and adventurous, seeking new thrills. He does not like a boring routine business and looking for new niches to satisfy their interests. Perhaps deepwater drilling - is one of these areas ", - said the billionaire friend. Kogtev recalls that "Lukoil" has worked for the African shelf and he had a few "dry" wells and exploration efficiency was much lower than in Russia.

Director of the Small Letters of Vitaly Kryukov, believes that Panatlantic Exploration has prospects: given the fall in oil prices, is now cleared a large number of drill ships and offshore lease rates fell. "Although the world stage exploration projects in deep offshore, not generyaschie cash flows and require investments fold" - Hooks said. According to him, such projects require oil prices above $ 80 per barrel. Familiar Fedun explains that billionaire VeriThat the price of oil in the long term is expected to grow to this level or even higher. According to the same Kogteva, marine technology reduces the cost of production and investments Fedun may well pay off. "The effectiveness of such projects should be measured in decades, not two or three years", - concludes the claws.