Russian moves to put the brakes on Shell and ExxonMobil developments on Sakhalin Island in the Far East have raised suspicions that the Kremlin is seeking a bigger stake for Gazprom in the multibillion-dollar projects, signed when oil prices were lower and power lay with foreign investors.
The government says it is motivated by concerns over the environment -- Sakhalin is adjacent to feeding grounds for the endangered gray whale -- and dissatisfaction that the fields are running well over budget, cutting into Moscow's future earnings under the production sharing agreements that govern them.
Natural Resources Minister Yury Trutnev said in a statement Monday that there was no question of removing Shell's license for the world's biggest liquefied natural gas project.
Shell was not immediately available for comment, but Sakhalin-2's Shell-owned operator, Sakhalin Energy, warned of delays last week after Russia revoked environmental permits.
That dismayed import-dependent Japan, which is looking to Sakhalin to meet much of its future energy needs. It also sparked protests from Brussels, London and The Hague.
"There is no question of removing the license because of the results of the investigation," Trutnev said.
"The inspection should only examine whether the operator is abiding by environmental protection legislation, not the other aspects of resource use in the Sakhalin region or offshore."
Shell has infuriated the Kremlin by doubling its estimate of the project's cost to $20 billion. Exxon's Sakhalin-1 project could cost $17 billion, a Russian official said last week, a $4.2 billion overshoot that Moscow says it will oppose.
Both projects are governed by production sharing agreements, which means they recoup their costs before paying royalties to the Kremlin, so cost increases push back the date when the state can expect to see its first revenues.
Later this week, the deputy head of the environmental watchdog, Oleg Mitvol, will visit Sakhalin-2 for talks with project managers. British, German, Japanese, U.S., Dutch and South Korean diplomats are invited to attend.
In another blow to foreign operators and energy-hungry Asian refiners, Russia's technical standards watchdog said Sept. 21 that more checks were needed on Exxon's Pacific terminal, meaning regular shipments could not start before mid-November.
Prosecutors on Monday warned TNK-BP unit Rusia Petroleum, which holds the license to the huge Kovykta gas field in Russia's Far East, over violations of environmental law.
Rusia Petroleum's general director, Valery Pak, received an official warning, the prosecutor general's office said in a statement on its web site.
This covered rule violations, the protection of nature and the conditions of the Kovykta license agreement, it added.
TNK-BP said only last week that there was no sign of any threat to its license for Kovykta.
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