Russian minister calls for clear deadlines in oil licenses

Russia’s Minister for Natural Resources Tuesday called for amendments to existing oil and gas field development licenses that would bring clear development terms and timeframes for exploration and production.

In a meeting with state environmental regulators and prosecutors, Yuri Trutnev called for more coordination in monitoring and enforcing compliance with licensing agreements by oil and gas companies.
“We will ask the companies for changes in their licenses,” Trutnev said.

In many licensing agreements, especially those signed during Russia’s turbulent transition to capitalism in the 1990s “there was no timeframe for bringing fields onstream, nor a schedule for drilling…companies can just do whatever they want with their oilfields,” Trutnev said.

He added, however, that state officials wouldn’t set unrealistic deadlines for developing fields, but would ask companies to agree to concrete goals.

Market Watch