* Novatek applied to tender for four large Arctic deposits
* Deposits hold an estimated 2.3 trl cubic metres of gas
* Gazprom not to participate in tender
MOSCOW, April 18 (Reuters) - Novatek, Russia's No. 2 gas producer, will participate in an auction for four Arctic gas and condensate deposits with an estimated 2.3 trillion cubic metres of gas, double that of the company's reserve base.
"We submitted our tender applications for the four Yamal deposits to the Subsoil Agency on Friday," a source in Novatek told Reuters on Monday.
"Our goal has always been to grow our reserve base, and this tender could lead to a significant increase," he said.
A source familiar with top gas producer Gazprom's licensing operations confirmed media reports that Gazprom did not apply to tender for the deposits.
The four deposits are in the same remote Arctic Yamal-Nenets region where the company's main reserve base of 1.144 trillion cubic metres of natural gas and 73 million tonnes of condensate is located.
Novatek has earmarked some of deposits to supply a $20 billion liquefied natural gas (LNG) project, which it plans to start building on the region's peninsula in 2012. By 2015 Novatek expects to produce 16 million tonnes of the cooled gas per year.
Russia media have reported that investment group Summa Capital and independent producer Itera also submitted applications to participate in the tender but only for the smallest of the four fields. Neither company was available for immediate comment.
Without Gazprom in the running, analysts say Novatek is most likely win the licences, thereby tripling its reserve base.
"With Russia's gas giant not participating in the auction, we believe that Novatek has an excellent chance of receiving all four blocks, as it is miles ahead of its LNG project competitors and is apparently the only bidder for all four blocks being auctioned," UniCredit Bank said in a research note.
May 20 is the deadline for auction participants to submit down payments for the licences, and for all four deposits Novatek will have to pay around 6.8 billion roubles ($241 million).
"We do not expect significant competition during this bidding process, so we believe this amount will be close to the final payment due," UniCredit said.
The largest of the four deposits, the Sever-Obsky field, holds an estimated 1.2 trillion cubic metres of natural gas, including both proven and probable reserves, and 218.5 million tonnes of condensate.
The second-largest deposit, the Salmanovsky field, has 482.8 billion cubic metres (bcm) of proven gas reserves, 284.3 bcm of probably reserves, and 17 million tonnes of proven condensate.
(Reporting and writing by Jessica Bachman; editing by Jane Baird)