Gazprom is ready to share shelf – it proposes to give its subsidiaries right for licenses

Gazprom is lobbying for changes in the law to get permission for its subsidiaries to work on the shelf , including for joint ventures with foreign partners. This will facilitate project management and possibly simplify the attraction of financing for the projects, the industry believes. Foreign companies, which are interested in working on the Russian shelf, according to the Kommersant’s information, ​​support the idea. Back in 2013, the Ministry of Natural Resources offered similar amendments, but then it wasn’t supported in the parliament building.

Gazprom and Rosneft, which have the right to work on the shelf, offer to allow them to reissue offshore licenses for its subsidiaries, head of the Russian Gas Society (RGS) Pavel Zavalny reported in Yuzhno-Sakhalinsk yesterday. According to him, it will reduce the risks of foreign partners, which now receive only a share in a company - the operator of a field, while the license is wholly owned by state-owned companies. "In the situation of imposition of Western sanctions against the Russian oil and gas sector (such scheme) further reduces the attractiveness of our projects for potential foreign partners," - said Mr. Zavalny. According to the Kommersant’s information, letter with proposal to consider this idea was written by Gazprom, it is talking about amending article 9 of the law on mineral resources. For a while, the idea is ​​only being discussed, there is no text of the bill yet.