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Leader for Tomsk region intervenes to help UK player in Russian battle


Imperial talks to environment boss



By Upstream staff 

The governor of Russia’s Tomsk region has come to the assistance of Imperial Energy by agreeing to meet the deputy head of Russian environmental watchdog Rosprirodnadzor to discuss his recent comments on alleged violations by the UK-listed company.

Tomsk Governor Viktor Kress, Imperial chairman Peter Levine and a company representative in Tomsk, Yuri Zelvensky, met with Rosprirodnadzor deputy head Oleg Mitvol in Moscow last week.

According to the Russian Natural Resources Ministry, Mitvol and Kress expressed hope that Rosprirodnadzor and the company would “settle all disputed issues in the nearest future”.

Mitvol made headlines last week by saying that Imperial’s affiliates in the Tomsk region — Sibinterneft and Alyansneftegaz — artificially boosted their hydrocarbon reserves estimates following audits by international reserve auditors DeGolyer & McNaughton. Mitvol claimed that reserves figures reported to the Russian authorities are “a way smaller” than those provided by Imperial to Western investors.

He also alleged that Imperial violated Russian law by laying its two connecting oil pipelines in treeless corridors that are meant to act as a firebreak to help stop the spread of forest fires.

The ministry said that Imperial’s representatives had assured Mitvol the company is prepared to “remedy all violations”.

However, Imperial itself denied there were “any violations of a material nature”.

Furthermore, the company disputed another line in the ministry’s statement that referred to the pipeline construction within the fire protection zone as being the contractors’ fault.

Imperial said that it “does not consider there to be any fault and wishes to state that all necessary permits and approvals for the construction and location of the pipelines are in its possession”.

In an apparent attempt to win support from Russian officials, Mitvol invited the Russian Federal Security Service to join Rosprirodnadzor in investigating foreign-listed companies operating in Russia, suggesting that the Western-audited reserves of these companies may have been inflated.

The list of companies likely to be investigated includes a number of small-scale gold producers as well as independent oil companies such as Sibir Energy, Urals Energy, Victoria Oil & Gas, Imperial Energy and Novatek.

Aton Brokerage analysts in Moscow noted that Mitvol and his agency do not have the authority to grant or withdraw licences and can only write to the relevant agencies with requests to investigate.


Friday, 27 April, 2007, 07:20 GMT  | last updated: Friday, 27 April, 2007, 07:20 GMT

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