MOSCOW (AP) – A senior Russian environmental official said Friday he would seek to revoke four oil field licenses at a unit of OAO Yukos, the largely dismantled oil company whose assets are being readied for liquidation.
Oleg Mitvol, deputy head of the watchdog agency Rosprirodnadzor, said the Samaraneftegaz subsidiary was operating within the territory of a national park and he said he would appeal to the Federal Subsoil Agency next week for four of its licenses to be pulled.
If the agency agrees that there is grounds for revocation, it typically gives companies between three and six months to get rid of the violations.
Yukos was bankrupted after a tax investigation against the company that resulted in its biggest production subsidiary begin bought in 2004 by state oil company OAO Rosneft after a disputed auction.
Observers say the campaign and parallel jailing of Yukos’ founder, Mikhail Khodorkovsky, was aimed at expanding state control in the vital energy industry and slapping down a potential political threat to President Vladimir Putin.
A series of bankruptcy auctions of Yukos’ remaining holdings is due to begin March 27 with the sale of Yukos’ 9.44 percent stake in Rosneft.
The Interfax news agency, citing the Federal Property Fund, said a separate bundle of shares will be sold on April 4.
The Yukos assets, which include some 470,000 barrels per day of production capacity and a handful of refineries, are widely expected to be snapped up by Rosneft and natural gas monopoly OAO Gazprom – both of which are controlled by the state.
Asked if the challenge by Rosprirodnadzor could reduce the price of Samaraneftegaz at auction, Nikolai Lashkevich, a spokesman for the court-appointed liquidator, declined to comment and said the company had not yet seen the claims.
“All I can say is that they are working on a national park,” Mitvol told AP. “Whether that affects the value or not doesn’t interest me.”
