Nordic justice

The court returned the licenses for two areas in the Barents Sea to the Sintez group

The Sintez group, believed to be controlled by the senator from Chuvashia Leonid Lebedev , managed to defeat Rosnedra, which deprived it of licenses for the geological study of the Admiralteyskaya and Pakhtusovskaya areas in the Barents Sea. The Moscow Arbitration Court yesterday declared the corresponding order of the department invalid. Previously, Vremya Novostey's sources believed that Gazprom was going to receive licenses for these areas. But after managers close to Zarubezhneft began to actively work in the region, and deputy chairman Alexander Ryazanov left Gazprom, the situation could change. Representatives of Sintezneftegaz were unavailable for comment yesterday.

The Admiralteyskaya and Pakhtusovskaya areas are located in difficult climatic and geological conditions and are still little studied. They are considered to be quite promising, especially the Admiralteysky site, which some geologists speak of as the second Shtokman field. In 2005-2006, the Sintez group carried out seismic work in these areas, but so far there is no accurate data on reserves. This year the company was going to start drilling the first exploratory wells.

The Rosnedra Commission decided to revoke the license in November last year on the recommendation of Rosprirodnadzor, since on the day of the inspection the subsoil user did not have a state expert examination report for geological exploration for each of the areas. In November, after a meeting of the commission, the general director of Sintezneftegaz (a subsidiary of Sintez) Yuri Fedorovsky called the revocation of the license a “PR campaign” by Rosnedra and accused officials of self-interest. “These are the actions of some companies that want to get our licenses in the easiest way,” he said. “If this happens, our company will be in a difficult position.” It must be said that Sintez itself, realizing that it could not cope with such fields alone, tried to invite large investors such as Rosneft and the Norwegian Hydro. However, none of them were interested in these assets.

As the deputy head of Rosprirodnadzor Oleg Mitvol, who was present at the meetings of the Rosnedra commission on the revocation of licenses, said yesterday, the court’s decision was quite expected, since the revocation procedure was grossly violated. “The Rosnedra Commission decided to revoke the license in just two hours,” he claims. -- The company was not given any notice of violations or deadlines for eliminating them, as required by law. And the lack of state examination is not a serious reason for revoking a license.” Rosnedra lawyers declined to comment. But a source in the department does not exclude the possibility of filing an appeal against this court decision, since he considers the absence of a state examination report to be a significant violation of the license.

The Sintez group has been in a state of conflict with Rosnedra for several years now. Two years ago, officials drew attention to the lack of a state expert report on geological exploration for the Admiralteysky and Pakhtusovsky areas, but the company was given time to eliminate these violations. In March last year, the department filed claims against another subsidiary of the Sintez group, Arktikshelfneftegaz, which also holds licenses for geological exploration in the Barents Sea. Then Rosnedra accused the company of misuse of an offshore drilling rig belonging to Arktikshelfneftegaz’s partner, FSUE Arktikmorneftegazrazvedka, and leased it to a Norwegian company. As a result, the company had to look for a new drilling rig. Last spring, Rosprirodnadzor identified and presented to the Rosnedra commission violations of the license agreement committed by Arktikshelfneftegaz at its main site - Medynsko-Varandeysky. Rosprirodnadzor is now conducting a second inspection to determine whether these violations have been corrected. In December, Rosnedra again summoned Arktikshelfneftegaz to a commission to revoke its license in connection with violations at the Kolmogorsky site. The company was given nine months to work on the bugs.

Anna GORSHKOVA