MOSCOW, March 31. /TASS/. The Russian government is working on cancellation of licenses for raw hydrocarbons on a declarative basis, head of the Federal Agency for Mineral Resources (Rosnedra) Oleg Kazanov said in an interview with TASS.

"There is some work being done in this direction. I would not like to announce it prematurely," he said, when asked about plans to cancel the declarative principle for hydrocarbons like with placer gold.

Earlier, he said that the issuance of licenses for placer gold under a simplified application principle would be canceled this year, but exploration licenses would remain.