Minister steps into Trebs & Titov licence dispute

By Vladimir Afanasiev

 30 March 2012 01:05 GMT

RUSSIA’S Natural Resources Minister Yuri Trutnev has intervened in the controversy in Moscow over the fate of the exploration and development licence for the Trebs & Titov oilfields in the Nenets autonomous region, saying current licence holder Bashneft-Polyus may lose it.

Bashneft-Polyus is a joint venture between Russian regional oil producer Bashneft, with a 75% stake, and Lukoil, with 25%.

Trutnev said Bashneft-Polyus has no oil refineries under its control, and so technically does not fit the licence’s terms.

The terms of the licence require the holder to own a suitable refinery to process a part of future output from Trebs & Titov on Russian territory.

The licence for the two fields, with estimated recoverable reserves of about 1 billion barrels of oil, was initially held by Bashneft, which won it at an auction at…

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