MOSCOW, September 6 (Itar-Tass) —— The Ministry of Natural Resources of the Russian Federation has drafted amendments to legislation so as to allow subsidiaries of Russian companies to participate in prospecting for minerals on the Russian shelf, Darya Vasilevskaya, the deputy director of the ministry’s department for state policy and regulation in geology and subsurface resources management, told a news conference on Tuesday.
“The amendments have been drafted but this does not mean that we call in question the operation of state companies on the shelf (only Rosneft and Gazprom now have the right for work on the shelf - Itar-Tass). However, we deem it expedient to allow operation on the shelf to subsidiaries of Russian state-owned companies and to another state company that has experience of shelf development not in Russia but in a foreign state, namely Vietnam,” she said.
Vasilevskaya stressed that the amendments had been coordinated with colleagues in other departments and referred to the government. The ministry expects that the decision to adopt or adjust them will be made “within a reasonable period of time.”
Vasilevskaya stressed that if the amendments are passed subsidiaries of Russian companies with the state’s share even less than 50 percent will be permitted prospecting on the shelf while only companies with the majority share of the state will be permitted extraction.
Vasilevskaya stressed particularly that the amendments will apply to Russian companies only, not to foreign participation.