British oil driller BP is on the verge to lose its license for the Kovykta gas field when a Siberian court declined to hear its arguments.
The Russian government is getting back all stakes in state’s hand to get monopoly over its oil reserve. The Russian government has already thwart Royal Dutch Shell aimed to spread in the Russia as authority force Dutch oil giant to sell its controlling stake in energy development in the Russian Far East, the Sakhalin II project.
Russian government has drafted a policy to empower state owned refinery Gazprom to compete with the western oil giants, by acquiring all its oil reserve.
Russia is set to take states oil under its control, which not only targeted BP and Shell, but all outsider refineries. BP is drilling oil in Russian field with Russian joint venture, TNK-BP.
Russian regulators impeached TNK-BP to drill less than signed amount of oil. Authority said that under the terms of the license, Kovykta should have been producing nine billion cubic meters of gas per year by 2006, but TNK-BP produce less than 2.5 billion cubic meters.
On the charges, TNK-BP defends itself and claims that company cannot produce any more because the local region does not require additional supplies and government has denied company an export license. About the legal battle, TNK-BP seems confident as it claiming that company has legal merit of the case and hopeful to defend all avenues.
Kovykta is one of the largest known Russian oil field where BP has build its largest natural gas project aimed to earn a billion from the fast-growing gas markets in China as Kovykta oil field is largest oil seller to the china. The field is also among the largest natural gas deposits in the world, holding the equivalent of three times the annual demand of the United States.
US and European nations are defending against the Russian policy to frustrate its refineries and deem this decision illegal. US has raised voice against increasing Russian monopoly over the Asian market and impeached it to threaten European nation with its access on the oil.
Image: artnotoil
Via: guardian
