Wednesday June 13, 2007

BP loses appeal against Russian oil field seizure

business.timesonline.co.uk :

BP's Russian joint venture TNK-BP lost the first round in its battle to hold on to its stake in giant Kovykta oil field when a Russian court threw out its appeal against the seizure. A judge said he had ruled to throw out a suit by TNK-BP, which was seeking to stop the authorities from taking away the licence. TNK-BP had claimed that two environmental agencies Rosprirodnadzor and Rosnedr had no legal right to start the process of withdrawing its licence, and that the move was politically motivated.

It is widely believed that the Russian government is using the threat of withdrawal over environmental grounds to force TNK-BP and its privately-owned partner Alfa to give up a proportion of their stake in the oil field operator Rusia Petroleum. It followed a similar strategy with Shell, forcing it to give up a majority stake in the giant Sakhalin-2 oil and gas field project.

- Yet more resource nationalization. Between ongoing oil depletion, getting outbid by state-run companies with deep pockets, and outright nationalization of oil and gas reserves, it's no wonder that the big oil companies seem to be having problems increasing their reserves.

See also :

1. Russia - the rising energy superpower (Shell, Sakhalin 2)
2. Russia threatens to cancel Shell, Mobil and Total's licenses
3. Russia tightens grip on energy
4. Big oil is getting pushed around
5. More oil & gas nationalization (Chad, Venezuela, Dubai, Russia, Indonesia)

(2007-06-13 12:33:00 SGT) [Energy] Permalink

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