RusEnergy

10-13-2006 Kommersant by Denis Rebrov - Russian Ministry of Nature begins checking whether subsoil users respect nature-protection laws in the Komi-Permyak Autonomous Area. First of all, the check will concern LUKOIL oil company which might lose 7 licenses. The Ministry said no one will escape the check. Rosneft, Surgutneftegaz, and TNK-VR will also be checked soon.
Russian Ministry of Nature said yesterday that the State Nature Protection Committee, headed by Deputy Minister of Nature Oleg Mitvol, set off for the Komi-Permyak Autonomous Area (Komi). Mitvol is to check whether the geological conditions of mining licenses are fulfilled, and to inspect the state of soil, forest and water resources. “First of all, it concerns the structural subdivisions of LUKOIL,” the Ministry says. It refers to LUKOIL-Komi which has over 50 licenses. LUKOIL’s deposits in Timano-Pechorsk oil-and-gas province, which includes sites in Komi, are about 520 million of metric tons of oil.
The Ministry said it decided to carry out checks after environmental specialists said that “LUKOIL hews down trees without forestage permission, and the damages already amount to millions of dollars”.
The State Nature Protection Committee has already inspected LUKOIL’s activities in Komi, discovering violations on 11 licensed sites: Usinsk (Permo-Carboniferous and Devonian deposits), East-Masteryelsk, Vozeisk, South-Vozeisk (Famennian deposit), Usinsk (Famennian deposit), South-Usinsk, Upper-Vozeisk, Suborsk, Lekkersk, Tabliksk, and Usinsk (part of Permo-Carboniferous deposit). Oil is extracted from the first 2 deposits, while others should be under geological exploration. “LUKOIL has already received a warrant for revocation of licenses for 5 of the deposits. The company should eliminate the discovered deficiencies within 6 months, otherwise the licenses will be recalled. The main flaw is that geological exploration and drilling work is behind schedule,” a source in the Ministry told Kommersant, adding that warrants were given to other 2 sites – Suborsk and Lekkersk, and the deficiencies there should be eliminated within 3 months. “It is already clear the company will not manage to do the entire scope of work preconditioned by the agreement,” the Ministry said. LUKOIL gave the only comment that it strictly abides by the requirements of nature protection laws and “is ready to cooperate with Oleg Mitvol”.
Experts are not surprised by the Nature Protection Committee’s activeness. “Many Russian companies obtained a great number of resources in the 1990s. Meanwhile, they lack means for developing all deposits. They develop most profitable fields, and preserve the rest. Consequently, Russia receives considerably less oil,” said Troika Dialog analyst Valery Nesterov. He does not think that the Nature Ministry’s action is specifically against LUKOIL, adding that licenses have hardly ever been recalled so far. At the same time, however, Russian President Vladimir Putin met with Minister of Nature Yuri Trutnev, announcing that the government “should adopt corresponding resolutions” on the companies that breach license terms.
The Ministry of Nature claims that LUKOIL is just one of the companies to be checked. Minister Trutnev will visit the Khanty-Mansi Autonomous Area on his way to Sakhalin where he is to go together with members of the Prosecutor General’s Office on October 24. The meeting devoted to deficiencies in meeting license agreement requirements will be held there. The Ministry says there already are some “undetermined” claims to Rosneft, Surgutneftegaz, and TNK-VR.