Introduction
The Russian Federal Subsoil Resources Management Agency (http://www.mnr.gov.ru) is a federal executive authority that organizes tenders and auctions on granting the rights to use subsoil sites in accordance with the procedures established under the legislation of the Russian Federation.
Each of the auctions is announced through mass media by the federal or corresponding regional Subsoil Resources Management Agency. The announcement describes characteristics of the field (location, resources, structures), the rules of the auction (participation requirement, date, application deadline, reserve price, deposit, increment), and the terms of use (duration of use, exploration conditions, fees and payments.) The companies apply to participate in the auction, and the agency decides which of them to admit to the auction based on their characteristics. The admitted companies then pay the deposit (the reserve price) to participate.
The auction itself is an ascending oral English auction. The auctioneer calls out each asking price starting with the reserve price plus one increment. The bidders lift assigned paddles to indicate their willingness to pay that amount. The auctioneer takes larger and larger bids. The winner is the bidder who placed the highest bid.
After the auction, the winner pays the difference between his last bid and the deposit and gets the license; all other participants get their deposits back.
Auction Data
This website provides data on the auctions and tenders held from 2004 to 2008 for licenses to explore and develop oil and gas fields in Russia. The file provided here contains a database of 1054 auctions and tenders. These are characterized by the following information: region, date, reserve price, final price, winner, list of participants, type of the field on sale (oil/gas/condensate), and distances to the nearest pipes/fields/roads/settlements. The names of the companies and fields are given in both Russian and English.