Sakhalin-2 water-use licenses suspended

Dec. 7, 2006
Russia's Ministry of Natural Resources has suspended 12 water-use licenses for the Sakhalin-2 oil and gas project after discovering what it called major violations of environmental law (OGJ, Nov. 6, 2006, Newsletter).

Eric Watkins
Senior Correspondent

LOS ANGELES, Dec. 7 -- Russia's Ministry of Natural Resources has suspended 12 water-use licenses for the Sakhalin-2 oil and gas project after discovering what it called major violations of environmental law (OGJ, Nov. 6, 2006, Newsletter).

Natural Resources Minister Yuriy Trutnev said a comprehensive inspection of the project showed that "in the course of implementing the Sakhalin-2 project major violations of Russian environmental law have been committed."

As a result of the inspection, Trutnev's ministry said it has suspended 12 licenses for water use granted to Starstroi, a Russian-Italian joint venture building natural gas and oil export pipelines as a subcontractor of the Sakhalin Energy consortium.

The ministry said Russia's environmental watchdog, Rosprirodnadzor, had uncovered violations of water law requirements by the company during the laying of pipelines in the Piltun-Astokhskoye and Lunskoye regions.

It gave the company 2 months to remove the designated violations; otherwise, it will annul the licenses, which are mandatory for any construction affecting rivers and other water resources.

Royal Dutch Shell owns a 55% stake in Sakhalin Energy, Mitsui 25%, and Mitsubishi 20%.

Contact Eric Watkins at [email protected].