10 percent of Russia’s oil output illegal, minister says

More than 10 percent of Russia’s oil output, nearly 1 million barrels a day, is being produced illegally, the nation’s natural resources minister said Friday.

He said that the level of oil extraction at Russian oil fields fell from 45 percent to 30 percent over the past 20 years due to irrational use of resources.
Deputy minister Tyomkin said that oil producers such as state-controlled OAO Rosneft and OAO Gazprom and Anglo-Russian oil company TNK-BP were seriously behind the schedules outlined in their licenses to develop new fields in eastern Siberia.

“This, in turn, poses a threat to guaranteeing the necessary volumes of oil for the capacity of the East Siberian-Pacific Ocean Pipeline,” Tyomkin said.

International Herald Tribune