RusEnergy

13.10.2006 MosNews - Russia’s Natural Resources Ministry said on Thursday, Oct. 12, that it will not revoke the license held by French oil major Total to develop a field in the north of European Russia. “No action is being taken to revoke the license,” Natural Resources Minister Yuri Trutnev said, quoted by RIA Novosti. “Just as with regard to other subsoil users, this is absolutely routine work related to overseeing the implementation of licensing agreements.” As MosNews reported, Russian authorities said in late September that they would start probes into deposits developed by Total and the Russian-British joint venture TNK-BP. The projects in questions are Total’s Kharyaga oil deposit and TNK-BP’s Kovykta gas field in East Siberia. “As to the Kharyaga deposit, we have questions about the way the project has been implemented,” Trutnev said. “We are not treating them as critical so far, but they do exist. We have a timetable for checks. We will conduct probes into the Kovykta and Kharyaga deposits for compliance with the licensing agreements and environmental standards according to the timetable.” In April, the ministry accused Total of failing to meet its targets for Kharyaga under a 1995 production-sharing agreement. It said the investor failed to increase production of crude and introduce new technologies and equipment for effective production since the agreement came into force in 1999. Ministry experts warned that the situation could result in losses for Russia, as the country “will have to continue sending the entire deposit’s output to the investor in compensation for its expenses.” But Russian President Vladimir Putin told journalists in France that talk of Total’s license for Kharyaga being revoked was an exaggeration. “Rumors that the license will be revoked are highly exaggerated,” Putin said after a meeting with his French counterpart. Total owns a 50 percent stake in the project, alongside Norway’s Hydro (40 percent) and Russia’s Nenets Oil Company (10 percent).