The Russian government has threatened to withdraw TNK-BP unit RUSIA Petroleum's licence to operate the Kovykta gas field and auction it off to Russian companies, Russian news agencies said.
Natural Resources Minister Yuri Trutnev said from Luanda, Angola: "If the license is withdrawn, it will be auctioned off as a strategic field, and foreign capital will be excluded from the right to participate" in the auction.
Trutnev said he could not foresee RUSIA Petroleum ending its breaches of its Kovykta license by the deadline in May.
"If they haven't done so over the past few years, how will they have time to do it in two months?" he asked.
In February, TNK-BP was accused of having failed to meet its agreement to supply the Irkutsk region with over 9 billion cubic meters of gas from the Kovykta deposit.
RUSIA Petroleum had extracted only 33.8 million cubic meters of gas, Russian daily Kommersant reported in January, citing state environmental agency Rosprirodnadzor.
According to experts, the possibility of TNK-BP's license being revoked could figure in negotiations between TNK-BP and Russian gas giant Gazprom, which has expressed an interest in taking part in the project.
According to the Russian press, Gazprom intends to buy a 74.4% stake in RUSIA Petroleum, which is currently 62.4% owned by TNK-BP, 28.5% by Russia's Interros and 11.2% by the administration of the Irkutsk province.
Kovykta holds estimated gas reserves of 1.9 billion cubic meters.
(AFX News, 16/03/2007)