Lukoil defends its position in the Caspian Sea. The company can prolong the licenses

The Caspian problems of Lukoil can be solved. Yesterday,the Russian  PM, Dmitry Medvedev gave his directions to deal with the latest amendments which can help the oil company work at the Caspian shelf. Lukoil has already obtained the opportunity to export Caspian oil at a preferential rate, though the company still cannot prolong the license for Centralnoe structure where it works with Gazprom and the Kazakh KazMunaiGas.

Yesterday the head of Lukoil, Vagit Alekperov asked Dmitry Medvedev to speed up provision of the exploration and production license for the Centralnoe deposit and the PM promised to give directions about it. The Minister of Energy, Alexander Novak claimed, the decision would be made by the end of the year. Alekperov supposed, the prolongation of the license was delayed, as it had been obtained before the adoption of the Shelf Law in 2008. In compliance with the Law, only the companies with the state participation of more than 50% can have access to offshore projects.