Date
Author
Анна ГОРШКОВА; Алексей ГРИВАЧ
Source
Preserved copy
Translated material
Minister of Inspections
Yuri Trutnev sent Oleg Mitvol to Sakhalin
The powerful international outcry that the Ministry of Natural Resources’ campaign against the Sakhalin-2 project provoked forced the head of the department to carry out “explanatory work.” Foreign media correspondents were gathered for a briefing in Moscow. Judging by news agency reports, Mr. Trutnev has somewhat moderated his assessment of the activities of foreign companies in Russia and directed his anger at careless local officials and unscrupulous contractors. “On Sakhalin, I was forced to remove from work the entire leadership of territorial bodies (Rosprirodnadzor - Ed. ),” ITAR-TASS quotes the minister. He made this decision after “looking at what they write (in the reports - Ed. ).” According to Mr. Trutnev, officials who turned a blind eye to the lawlessness taking place on the Sakhalin project will soon be punished. And the minister, as one would expect, instructed the notorious deputy head of Rosprirodnadzor, Oleg Mitvol, to check the work of territorial bodies. Mr. Mitvol has already flown to Sakhalin and today he should begin re-inspecting the areas where the Sakhalin-2 project is being implemented, and at the same time the work of the local authorities of the department. At the same time, the head of the Ministry of Natural Resources promised that if violations are not eliminated within the agreed time frame, he will have to take action.Mr. Trutnev softened his threats not only against Sakhalin-2, but also became more cautious in his statements regarding two other projects being implemented under the terms of production sharing agreements - Sakhalin-1 (operator Exxon, owns a stake in the project state-owned Rosneft) and for the development of the Kharyaga oil field (operator Total). Perhaps the change in the minister's tone occurred because Vladimir Putin, while in Paris at the end of last week, assured the international community that licenses for the development of these deposits would not be taken away. But Mr. Trutnev switched to a project to develop the Kovyktinskoye gas condensate field, which TNK-BP cannot begin to implement due to Gazprom’s refusal to export gas.
In July of this year, at the initiative of Minister of Natural Resources Yuri Trutnev (pictured) , Rosprirodnadzor conducted an inspection of Sakhalin-2, during which a number of violations of environmental legislation were identified. Based on the inspection, Mr. Mitvol appealed to the prosecutor’s office with a petition to cancel the results of the environmental state examination. On September 18, after the prosecutor's office supported Rosprirodnadzor's petition, the Ministry of Natural Resources decided to cancel its order approving the positive expert opinion. The ministry's statement caused a negative reaction abroad. The first to criticize the actions of the Ministry of Natural Resources were European Commission Commissioner Andris Piebalgs, who called on Russia to “clearly outline” the problems underlying the revocation of permission to develop Sakhalin-2, and Japanese Cabinet Secretary General Shinzo Abe, who said that the decision of the Russian authorities could harm the development of bilateral connections. The next day, authorities in the UK, USA and Holland expressed concern about the situation around the project. Dutch Prime Minister Jan Peter Balkenend even called Russian President Vladimir Putin to discuss this issue. However, as it later turned out, the order to cancel the order approving the environmental assessment was not signed.
Yesterday, Mr. Trutnev promised to close the Sakhalin-2 project if its participants (Shell, Mitsui and Mitsubishi companies, united in the Sakhalin Energy consortium) do not ensure the environmental safety of the onshore pipeline. “Companies must make design and technological decisions to ensure the safety of the pipeline, otherwise, unfortunately, we will not be able to allow further implementation of the project,” Mr. Trutnev told reporters. He named poor design of the project and irresponsible work of contractors as the main reasons for the violations. “Contract work is carried out disgracefully, part of the money is stolen,” the minister emphasized. According to the minister, the project operator Sakhalin Energy has about a month to send its proposals to the Ministry of Natural Resources to eliminate the violations identified during the first inspection. During this time, the ministry will decide to cancel the positive conclusion of the state examination. According to Mr. Trutnev, the order to cancel the examination is already ready, but the final decision to cancel it will be made only after a comprehensive check.
As experts note, the claims against Sakhalin-2 play into the hands of Gazprom, which a year ago was going to exchange assets with Shell - to receive a 25% stake in Sakhalin Energy and give 50% in the Zapolyarye-Neocom project. However, due to the fact that the operator of the Sakhalin project subsequently decided to increase the cost estimate, which the government has not yet agreed to, negotiations on the deal, as Gazprom says, were suspended.
Another campaign by Mr. Trutnev on projects with foreign participants - the Kovyktinskoye field - is also connected with Gazprom. TNK-BP, which owns 62% of the shares of RUSIA Petroleum, which is developing the field, is also promised trouble. Mr. Trutnev stated that by the end of the year, RUSIA Petroleum is unlikely to be able to fulfill one of the main conditions of the license agreement - to begin commercial operation and supply 9 billion cubic meters of gas to consumers in the Irkutsk region this year. “I don’t have the feeling that we will agree to change the license agreement,” Interfax quotes Mr. Trutnev. This means that at the beginning of next year the Ministry of Natural Resources may have a legitimate reason to deprive TNK-BP of this license.
Until this time, Kovykta is of little interest to officials. This is also evidenced by the fact that the Rosnedra commission, responsible for the implementation of license agreements, was supposed to consider the Kovykta agreement last Friday, but postponed this issue for an indefinite period (despite a recent request from the Prosecutor General demanding that they deal with RUSIA Petroleum). . According to Mr. Trutnev, the Ministry of Natural Resources is going to return to the issue at the end of the year and conduct an inspection of Kovykta with the appropriate conclusions.
In order not to appear too inconsistent in his decisions, Mr. Trutnev slightly chided Gazprom for its inertia in developing the fields of the Yamal Peninsula, in particular the Bovanenkovo field. “As far as I remember, unfortunately, the license agreement for the development of the Bovanenkovskoye field does not indicate the timing of its commissioning. I think that this is a serious problem, and I think that the Bovanenkovskys need to be dealt with more intensively,” said Mr. Trutnev. He apparently forgot that some time ago the Ministry of Natural Resources revised the license agreement for this field (the commissioning date was shifted from 2008 to 2011). The head of the Ministry of Natural Resources cautiously added that only in a month will he be able to report on the measures that his department plans to take to solve this problem. “A series of negotiations will be held,” he said vaguely, without specifying, however, with whom exactly.