PRESS: Corporation Energy asks for private firms access to shelf

MOSCOW, Jul 30 (PRIME) -- Former Energy Minister Igor Yusufov, owner of Corporation Energy, has sent several letters to the Natural Resources and Environment Ministry with a request to provide several sites in the Gulf of Ob for geological exploration, Kommersant business daily reported Monday.

In the June letter, Yusufov said that the Ust-Obsky 1, 2, 3 sites and the Yuzhno-Parusnoye 2, and Bukharinskoye 2 sites are located close to Corporation Energy’s sites and their development will allow for synergy from using joint infrastructure and joint organization of geological exploration works and help to attract significant investments in the Yamalo-Nenets Autonomous District.

The current law does not allow private companies to explore and develop the Russian shelf. Only independent gas producer Novatek among private companies has licenses in the Gulf of Ob, having received them specially for liquefied natural gas (LNG) projects.

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