PRESS: Oil firms ask govt not to assess ecological damage in Arctic

MOSCOW, Jan 19 (PRIME) -- Russia's largest oil companies are asking the government not to conduct state environment assessment of Arctic well drilling project documentation, business daily Kommersant reported on Tuesday, citing sources.

The sources said that Rosneft CEO Igor Sechin, Lukoil CEO Vagit Alekperov and Gazprom Neft CEO Alexander Dyukov said in a letter to the prime minister that the assessment will prolong the drilling and preparation time of the projects by at least a year and will hurt output and revenue of state budget.

“The development plans of new oil provinces and hard to recover oil, a significant part of which is located in the Arctic, will also be jeopardized,” the letter said.

A company source said that if the state environment assessment is not cancelled in the next six months, the projects would be delayed.

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