Chechnya threatens to cancel Rosneft oil license October 28, 2006
Moscow - Chechnya's pro-Russian authorities have threatened to cancel oil firm Rosneft's license to work in the Russian Caucasus republic unless the state-owned company stops violating production conditions.
They also urged Rosneft to invest more money to help in the recovery of the war-ravaged region.
"The Chechen leadership told (Rosneft subsidiary) Grozneftegaz that it could lose its license" by June 2007, Chechen Industry and Energy Minister Amadi Temishev told AFP Friday.
Chechnya has accused Grozneftegaz of breaching the provisions of its production contract and failing to drill new oil wells and explore new fields.
The Rosneft subsidiary also failed to comply with its environmental obligations, Temishev added.
Chechnya's pro-Russian Prime Minister Ramzan Kadyrov called on Rosneft to "fully use" revenues from the Chechen oil business for the recovery of the republic's economy, ITAR-TASS news agency said.
"Almost all the money goes to Moscow," said Temishev. "Only a tiny part of the two million tonnes of crude produced in 2005 remained in Chechnya."
He said that the Chechen government would ask the Russian ministry for natural resources to grant the license to another company, but added that "negotiations will not be easy." - AFP
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