LUKOIL hopes to receive access to the arctic shelf

The Russian arctic shelf should be equally accessible for "nationally significant" oil-extracting companies without limitation on composition of share capital. It was declared by the vice-president of LUKOIL on geological prospecting Ilia Mandrik on the international conference Offshore Marintec Russia.

Now, according to Russian legislation, only companies with a share of state participation more than 50 percent and experience of work on the shelf not less than 5 years have the right to develop the shelf. Actually, only state companies fit this criterion. Actually, these are Gazprom and Rosneft, as Ilia Mandrik explains. As it is noted by the president of the company Vagit Alekperov, the company counts that the federal government will take the decision about access of private oil companies to the arctic shelf, as in the whole world they are considered national companies and the same sanctions are imposed on them as on other colleagues. He expresses hope that these issues will be regulated, and potential available in LUKOIL will be required for prospecting and developing of large fields, which are not discovered yet. Also LUKOIL considers necessary to secure the special order of giving rights to use subsoil for "nationally significant" companies: without auctions, on the basis of a decision taken by the government of the Russian Federation. Besides, for acceleration of development of the arctic shelf the company offers to pass on from taxation of extraction amounts and hydrocarbons export to taxation of a financial result. For this LUKOIL considers expedient to subtract expenses for geological prospecting work from the mineral extraction tax, as it is informed on the website regnum.ru. At the present time LUKOIL fulfills work in the district of the shelf of the Caspian Sea and participates in some projects of the Guinean shelf. Also the company has access to fulfillment of work on the Norwegian continent.