Russia to keep lid on access

By

 17 January 2013 06:37 GMT

Russian authorities will provide only limited access to offshore blocks for the country’s privately-held oil companies, following a meeting in Novy Urengoy, West Siberia this week, chaired by Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev, writes Vladimir Afanasiev.

First Deputy Prime Minister Arkady Dvorkovich said privately-owned Russian companies will only be allowed to work on offshore blocks that state-controlled Gazprom and Rosneft decide to return to the government after carrying out their own exploration efforts.

Under current Russian law, only Gazprom and Rosneft are allowed to work on the country’s offshore acreage.

According to Dvorkovich, privately-owned operators will still have to issue options for Gazprom and Rosneft to enter these projects at a later stage if a commercial discovery is made.

Dvorkovich added that foreign-owned companies will not be allowed to hold…

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