RusEnergy

RBC, 31.01.2007, Moscow 09:58:55.Foreign companies and Russian legal entities subject to non-residents will not be allowed to control strategic land owned by the government, the draft amendments to legislation on foreign participation in the capital of Russian strategic organizations indicate. The amendments will be considered by the government today. Non-residents will not be admitted to strategic deposit auctions and entitled to purchase stakes of more than 50 percent in companies licensed to develop such deposits. The draft law specifies the criteria of highly important deposits. Oilfields with reserves of more than 70m tonnes, gas fields with reserves exceeding 50bn cubic meters, gold deposits of more than 50 tonnes, copper deposits of over 500,000 tonnes and all continental shelf fields are referred to this group. Meanwhile, the draft law does not automatically define all such deposits as strategic. The latter list will be specified by the government.