31 May 2004 11:46
Russian-UK oil company faces scrutiny from FSB, energy watchdog
Moscow, 31 May: Russian-British oil major TNK-BP is under scrutiny by the Federal Security Service (FSB) over its
policy on giving foreign executives access to information on the company's oil reserves, data that has been
classified as a state secret under Russian law, Vedomosti daily reported on Monday [31 May] quoting TNK-BP
representatives. The newspaper said that the company's headquarters in Moscow employs over 100 foreigners including
CEO Robert Dudley, a US citizen.
"We have indeed had some problems (with the FSB)," Viktor Vekselberg, the company's managing director,
told the newspaper. "For example, the chief executive has to have access to this information. But by law only a
Russian citizen can get the access," he added.
Vekselberg said that the company will lobby for a relevant change in the law. "There are lots of unresolved
legal issues related to the status of foreigners working in Russia," he said.
In a separate development last week Sergey Oganesyan, chairman of the Federal Energy Agency, reportedly said that the
Samotlor oil field in Western Siberia is being developed by TNK-BP without a technical plan, in violation of the law. He
also threatened to withdraw the company's licence.
The company denied that it may have to stop production at its largest Siberian field, saying regulatory authorities
have found no violations of its licence agreement to date. "We are going through a routine procedure of updating a
field development plan" for the Samotlor field, a spokeswoman for the company said, quoted by Dow Jones Newswires
on 28 May. She added that at meetings with regulatory bodies in April and again last week, state officials "found
no violations" of the plan. The plan received preliminary approval in 1999 but has to be updated every five to
seven years, she said.
The spokeswoman said the preliminary approval it received is valid until the company finalizes and presents its
definitive plan in the second quarter of 2005. The field's rehabilitation is one of the cornerstones of BP's
strategic development plan in Russia.
"The (Vedomosti) report is slightly unusual in that companies' reserve base information is not really
secret as they are audited by international oil and gas appraisers," Aton Capital said in a research note on
Monday. "Nonetheless, in relation to over-production at fields this is a potentially serious issue as the fastest
growing producers like TNK, Sibneft and Yukos have been exceeding some of the production parameters of their licensing
agreements."
According to Aton, one possible reason for the contradiction between what fast-growing companies are managing to pump
and their licence agreements is the contradiction between Soviet oil recovery techniques, used by most Russian
geologists and government officials and underpinning production licences, and Western-style production techniques, which
have allowed the companies to dramatically increase production.
"In recent times the Soviet production standards have not been strictly applied to companies as it was
understood they did not really match up to Western recovery capacities. The energy agency decision may therefore herald
new moves by the authorities to ensure production is brought in line with licence terms, which could create problems for
companies using Western extraction technology," Aton said.
[Prime-TASS news agency] |
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