Russia to Draft Bill Liberalising Arctic Access: Press

The Russian government plans to draft a bill that would grant private operators access to oil and gas resources on the country’s Arctic shelf, an official told reporters on August 26.

“A meeting in the government was held by two deputy prime ministers Dmitry Kozak and former natural resources minister and Arctic commission head Yuri Trutnev and involved three federal ministers,” Alexander Krutikov, Russia’s deputy minister for eastern development, explained, according to the Moscow-based Ria news agency. “It was decided to draft a bill that would increase private investors’ access to developing the Arctic shelf. We will prepare this bill.”

A representative of Kozak later confirmed to Ria that the bill was planned.

Current legislation only allows Russia’s state-owned oil and gas companies Rosneft and Gazprom to operate offshore licences in the Arctic. Moscow has been reluctant to free up access, despite successive lobbying attempts by leading private operators such as Lukoil and Novatek.

Spending on offshore Arctic exploration has fallen considerably since the 2014 oil price crash and introduction of Western sanctions on Russia's oil and gas industry. Gazprom resumed drilling in the Kara Sea in 2017, however, and has since reported two new gas discoveries.