The Group has its origins in PetroNeft LLC, a Texas based company, which was established in 2003 as an oil and gas investment and consultancy company focused principally on the Russian market.  In May 2005, PetroNeft LLC acquired the entire participatory interest in a Russian company, Stimul-T, which had acquired a 100 per cent interest in Licence 61 following a competitive auction process in the November 2004 Tomsk Licence Auction.  PetroNeft Resources plc was incorporated on 15 September 2005 and, as part of a corporate reorganization, acquired the principal assets and liabilities of PetroNeft LLC in November 2005. PetroNeft Resources plc was admitted to the London AIM and Dublin IEX Markets, in September 2006.

The Group’s strategy is to develop an oil exploration, development and production business in Russia, using the combined skills, experience and resources of the Group’s Directors and employees. In the short term this is to be achieved through a rigorous appraisal and exploration programme on Licence 61, by seeking to bring the existing discoveries into production as rapidly as possible and by exploiting the additional opportunities already identified and summarised in the Ryder Scott Report.

In addition to operations on Licence 61, the company continues to evaluate new projects for acquisition, The objective is to acquire new “Core Exploration and Production Areas”, that satisfy  the company’s strict technical and legal evaluation criteria. While the main focus for new acquisitions will be the Western Siberian Basin, the company will also consider projects in other areas within the Russian Federation.