On Friday, the head of the department for work with subsoil users of the Ministry of Natural Resources of the Russian Federation Sergei Sh

On Friday, the head of the department for work with subsoil users of the Ministry of Natural Resources of the Russian Federation, Sergei Shutko, said that in June the ministry sent 31 notices to Russian companies about the early termination of subsoil use. In particular, such notifications were sent to Salym Petroleum Development (SPD), the Royal Dutch/Shell joint venture and Evikhon, a subsidiary of Sibir Energy controlled by Moscow entrepreneur Shalva Chigirinsky. SPD, according to Mr. Shutko, will have its licenses revoked for three areas of the Salym group (West Salym, Verkhne-Salym and Vadelypskoye fields). Sibir Energy President Henry Cameron told Kommersant yesterday that “SPD’s licenses will not be revoked.” According to Mr. Cameron, the company “received a notification from the Ministry of Natural Resources about ten days ago, but two days before that, a meeting of the KhMAO licensing commission was held, at which our field development program was approved.” That is, there is no longer a formal reason for revoking licenses. Shell and Sibir Energy signed an agreement on major joint investments in the fields at the end of April. The reserves of the fields being developed by SPD are 120-180 million tons of oil.

Newspaper "Kommersant" No. 116/P dated 07/07/2003, page 7

Sibir Energy fights for licenses