Russian Natural Resources Minister Yuri Trutnev proposed on Tuesday, June 13, to further tighten restrictions on foreign oil companies
Russian Natural Resources Minister Yuri Trutnev proposed on Tuesday, June 13, to further tighten restrictions on foreign oil companies and to increase the number of oil and gas fields that the government defines as strategic, Mosnews.com reported.
The minister said his proposal was designed to protect Russia?s national interests. ?We don?t consider it energy egotism. We consider it concern for our national economy,? Trutnev said, quoted by the British Financial Times.
Trutnev?s plan call to forbid foreign companies or companies with 50 percent foreign participation to develop fields with more than 70 million tons of oil and 50 billion cubic meters of gas. Initially the Natural Resources Ministry said the cut-off point would be 150 million tons of oil and 1,000 billion cubic meters of gas.
Trutnev suggested the proposed restrictions would particularly affect TNK-BP, the Anglo-Russian joint venture. Robert Dudley, chief executive of TNK-BP, said the proposals did not come as a big surprise and that what was most important was that they were not retroactive. He said he was confident of TNK-BP?s prospects in Russia.
The new proposals are set to form part of a draft law that has been in preparation for over two years. It has been presented by Vladimir Putin, Russia?s president, as creating ?predictable, precise and transparent? rules for foreign companies.
