MOSCOW, February 9 (RIA Novosti) - Russia's natural resources regulator has found violations in the development of the East Siberian Kovykta gas field, and has given operator TNK-BP [RTS: TNBP] three months to rectify the situation.
"The operator will be notified that its license for the Kovykta field could be revoked, and that it will be given three months to correct the violations," the Russian Ministry of Natural Resources said.
Rusia Petroleum, whose stakeholders are TNK-BP (64.4%), Interros (25.82%), and the Irkutsk regional administration (11.24%), holds the license to develop Kovykta, which has proven reserves of 2 trillion cubic meters of natural gas.
A Natural Resources Ministry official said the ministry had been issuing similar warnings to Rusia Petroleum since 2004.
"Representatives of the Ministry of Natural Resources met with the company's top managers and explained this to them on several occasions. Rusia Petroleum approached us several times with a request to change the deadline for the start of production in volumes set out in the license agreement," he said.
However, the main violation is the company's refusal to meet its obligation to supply the areas around Kovykta with gas, the ministry official said, adding it would take tough measures if the company failed to do anything about the situation.
The project run by the British-Russian merger TNK-BP involves a set of measures to equip the central part of the Kovykta deposit. It aims to put 18 wells into operation, build a facility to extract condensate from gas mixtures, and prepare natural gas for the trunk pipeline.
