May 29 (Bloomberg) -- OAO Lukoil, Russia's largest independent crude producer, and state-run OAO Gazprom found a ``major'' oil field after drilling the first exploration well at the Tsentralnaya site in the Caspian Sea.

``The well gushed a fountain of low-sulfur oil during field tests,'' Moscow-based Gazprom and Lukoil said today in joint e- mailed statements.

The site, in the Russian part of the Caspian near the border with Kazakhstan, may hold 3.8 billion barrels of oil and 91.7 billion cubic meters of gas, the companies said after setting up a joint venture in 2003. Lukoil at the time said it may cost as much as $12 billion to develop.

Lukoil closed up 4.7 percent at 2,630.18 rubles and Gazprom finished up 1.7 percent to 360.60 rubles in Moscow.

The companies will analyze the reserves by the end of the year, Lukoil spokesman Dmitry Dolgov said by phone. Kazakhstan's state-run KazMunaiGaz National Co. will come in as a 50 percent partner if commercial reserves are found under a 2002 accord between the two countries, he said.

To contact the reporter on this story: Torrey Clark in Moscow at tclark8@bloomberg.net; Nariman Gizitdinov in Almaty, through the Moscow newsroom at ngizitdinov@bloomberg.net;

Last Updated: May 29, 2008 10:17 EDT