| Yuri Trutnev is looking for “gray” oil Minister of Natural Resources Yuri Trutnev, who had just reported to Vladimir Putin on the work done to monitor compliance with the terms of subsoil use licenses, announced a new large-scale inspection. This time, all the country's oil producing enterprises, which Mr. Trutnev suspects of providing inaccurate information about the volume of oil production, became the objects of the minister's close attention. And, accordingly, an understatement of the tax base for calculating the mineral extraction tax (MET). To carry out such a large-scale operation, the Ministry of Natural Resources intends to involve both civilian departments - the Ministry of Industry and Energy and the Ministry of Economic Development, and security agencies - the FSB and the Ministry of Internal Affairs, which will help identify and punish violators. However, the Federal Service for Supervision of Natural Resources, which reports to the ministry and is responsible for conducting inspections, says that they are not planning any large-scale audits beyond the scope of current work. For obvious reasons, oil companies unanimously declined to comment.
“Today, the Ministry of Natural Resources is not sure how accurately the state knows how much oil is produced from which fields,” Yuri Trutnev told Interfax. Since this issue relates to mining, his ministry intends to ensure that the government's controls on oil production are adequate. “Therefore, the Ministry of Natural Resources is developing a new scheme for monitoring subsoil users. Representatives of tax and law enforcement agencies help us in this work,” he concluded.
As a representative of the Ministry of Natural Resources told Vremya Novostei, the inspection has already begun and will only be completed after comprehensive data on oil production in the country becomes available. According to him, production data provided by companies will be compared with actual data on oil shipments from fields. “At the end, we want to get adjusted volumes and a proven methodology in order to more accurately understand the volume of oil produced in Russia,” he says. -- The information about how many tons of oil is exported is quite accurate; Transneft records it. However, it is impossible to say exactly how much oil is transported by rail and water transport.”
The state company that carries out and controls railway transportation, JSC Russian Railways, was surprised by the statements of officials of the Ministry of Natural Resources. “We have accurate information regarding all domestic as well as export oil transportation,” the company’s press service told Vremya Novostei. -- The database is located in the Center for Corporate Transport Services (a division of the company. - Ed. ). However, this is closed (to journalists - Ed. ) information concerning our clients.” Russian Railways found it difficult to say whether the company received a request from the Ministry of Natural Resources, but it is obvious that the ministry would hardly be left without the necessary information. The situation is similar with water transportation. The Federal Agency for Maritime and River Transport also says that they have all the data on the movement of goods.
At the same time, the ministry structures that directly conduct inspections of subsoil users know nothing about Mr. Trutnev’s intentions. “We are constantly checking licensing agreements, including the amount of oil produced,” Nikolai Lychak, deputy head of the federal service for supervision in the field of environmental management of the Ministry of Natural Resources, told Vremya Novostei. “That’s what the cat is for, so that the mouse doesn’t doze off.” Without such checks, companies will do whatever they want. This is our normal scheduled work. However, everything that is reported about a large-scale inspection with the Ministry of Internal Affairs, the FSB and the State Customs Committee is complete nonsense. There is nothing like that. Our service is currently conducting inspections independently. There are, of course, comprehensive on-site inspections with the involvement of law enforcement agencies, but they are dedicated to compliance with natural law and ecology. Determining how much oil is exported is not within the competence of the Ministry of Natural Resources. I can say the same about oil transportation within Russia. This is the prerogative of fiscal services. Our task is to monitor compliance with subsoil legislation. We constantly identify violations. If they are small, then the companies are pointed out and given a deadline to eliminate them. When violations are large-scale, serious measures are taken, including revocation of the license, although this is a very complex process.” And this process, as you know, is in full swing with respect to ten major oil companies. Yana VIKTOROVA, Alexey GRIVACH, Mikhail KUKUSHKIN, Alexander SHVAREV |
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