Delayed: the sale of Kovykta
Trutnev acts on Kovykta sale delay
Russia's Natural Resources Ministry will review the rights to the Kovykta gas field since the licence holder, BP's 50:50 joint venture TNK-BP, and Gazprom have yet to agree a sale, the minister said today.
"Lengthy talks between Gazprom and the license holders have led nowhere," Reuters quoted Natural Resources Minister Yuri Trutnev as telling reporters.
"We will have to return to this issue."
BP's TNK-BP joint venture, half-owned by a quartet of Soviet-born businessmen, agreed in 2007 to sell Kovykta to Gazprom for around $1 billion after months of warnings from state officials that it might lose the licence for the field as its development was proceeding too slowly.
The deal has been repeatedly delayed due to a price disagreement.
The field has reserves of about 2 trillion cubic metres of gas and a $20 billion project is under way to develop it.