MOSCOW, October 16 (RIA Novosti) - Russia's environmental watchdog has sent an inquiry to the Federal Tax Service on payments made by the country's largest crude producer LUKoil [RTS: LKOH] for the use of deposits to which it holds licenses, the Russian Natural Resources Ministry said Monday.
The Federal Service for the Oversight of Natural Resources said last week it had uncovered serious infringements of environmental law by LUKoil at 21 oil extraction sites in the Komi Republic in the northwest Urals, and the neighboring Khanti Mansi Autonomous Area in west Siberia, and demanded the revocation of production license agreements.
The information on the company's tax payments "is necessary in order to continue the probe into the activities of LUKoil's subsidiaries," the ministry said, adding that the head of the environmental watchdog, Oleg Mitvol, had requested taxation data on 398 licenses issued to LUKoil-controlled companies.
LUKoil is currently exploring and producing oil and natural gas at 406 licensed sites in Russia and 17 sites abroad.
Russia's environmental authorities have recently been upping the pressure on oil producers, although until last week these had been mainly foreign companies. In September the Ministry of Natural Resources withdrew a key permit for the vast Sakhalin-II hydrocarbon project in Russia's Far East led by Anglo-Dutch oil major Shell.
Natural Resources Minister Yury Trutnev said Monday that his ministry would continue conducting ecology probes into oil companies operating in Russia.
"It is a normal process," he said. "We will make environmental requirements more stringent. And they would affect all oil companies, including LUKoil, Rosneft and TNK-BP."
