Russia’s Gazprom has won licenses for rights to develop two large oil and gas fields in the Arctic, beating rivals Rosneft and Lukoil, an official at oilfield licenses regulator Rosnedra told Reuters on Wednesday. Analysts have said that Gazprom needs to increase its resource base in the face of rivalry from other, smaller, gas producers in the domestic market. Gazprom paid 23.338 billion rubles ($354.6 million) at an auction for rights to develop the Layavozhskoye and Vaneyvisskoye oil and gas fields in the Nenets Autonomous Region, the official said. The starting price was set at 8 billion rubles. According to Natural Resources Ministry data, the Layavozhskoye field contains 9.8 million tonnes of oil and 140.1 billion cubic meters (bcm) of natural gas reserves. […]