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Three Russian private oil firms get access to shelf

MOSCOW, June 18. /ITAR-TASS/. The Russian Natural Resources Ministry has amended the subsoil law to allow three independent oil companies to work on the shelf, business daily Kommersant reported on Wednesday.

The three companies are the largest independent oil company Lukoil, exploration operator Severneftegas and Crimea’s oil and gas company Chernomorneftegaz, both owned by Vladimir Lisin.

In 2008, amendments to the subsoil law banned private companies from working on the shelf, creating problems for those, who, like Lukoil, received such licenses before 2008 and was working on the Caspian Sea shelf.

Natural Resources Minister Sergei Donskoy said the amendments were meant to boost investment in the shelf development and help private firms recover funds they had invested in exploration.