Russian federal authorities are dissatisfied with the management of the field, one of three Russian projects run according to a production sharing agreement.
As BarentsObserver reported last week, Russian Deputy Minister of Energy Stanislav Svetlitsky and Nenets Governor Igor Fyodorov in a meeting agreed that the field operators will have to cut costs in the Arctic project.
The French oil company recently announced that it will not get net profits in the Kharyaga project this year, which means that both federal and regional authorities will not get much-desired project revenues. That is not acceptable for the authorities, currently strained by the economic downturn in the country. The Russian ministry of Energy already indicates that “serious inspections will take place at the Kharyaga project”.
On the initiative of Nenets Governor Igor Fyodorov, a special Kharyaga task force will be established. That is to conduct monthly monitoring of project production, as well as evaluate project spending of operator Total and its contractors. Included in the that task force will be representatives of the regional department of Natural Resources and Environment, the Nenets Oil Company, the Interior Ministry and the FSB, a press release from the regional administration reads.
