The Russian government has approved new legislation which is intended to boost oil and gas investments in the country’s Arctic shelf. The current numerous permissions required to engage in the offshore projects will be abolished and replaced by extended license agreements, newspaper Rossiiskaya Gazeta reports.
Currently, companies engaging at the shelf have to get separate permissions for each different operation. That significantly hampers project efficiency, given the fact that it takes at least 3-4 months to get the respective permissions.
Now, extended license agreement will reduce the bureaucratic burden for the oil and gas companies. That will help speed up field development and make the offshore resources more attractive for investors, the Ministry of Natural Resources argues.
At the same time, the new procedures will not lower focus on environmental security, the ministry maintains.
Over the last five years, the Russian Nature Control Agency (Rosprirodnadzor) has issued a total of 116 various permissions to offshore field developers, RG.ru reports. That number will get a boost as Gazprom and the Shtokman Development AG start the actual development of the Shtokman field in the Barents Sea.
It can not be excluded that the facilitated legislation could come now as the Shtokman developers move closer to the implementation phase of their grand project.
Russia has offshore fields in operation outside Sakhalin in the Far East and in the Caspian Sea. The Shtokman field and the Prirazlomnoe field in the Barents and Pechora Seas will be the country’s first Arctic offshore field in production.
