State cos to remain main players on Russian shelf - Dvorkovich
MOSCOW. Jan 22 (Interfax) - State companies will remain the main players on the Russian shelf, Deputy Prime Minister Arkady Dvorkovich said at a press conference.
This was the decision the government reached at a meeting in Novy Urengoi on January 15, he said.
A final decision to admit private companies to the shelf was not reached at the meeting, he said. "There wasn't one. The cabinet members decided to analyze the issue further," he said
Dvorkovich said foreign companies would be able to develop the shelf only as the minority partners of state companies. "We agreed that stat companies are the main players. As for private companies, we agreed to look at proposals, in what instances they can operate on the shelf, for example if licenses are returned. Foreign companies should be brought in only as junior partners," he said.
According to Russian law, only state companies with more than five years experience of working on the Russian shelf are eligible to develop offshore fields. Only two companies, Rosneft and Gazprom , currently fit that bill. Private Russian companies have often asked the government to consider admitting them to the shelf.