Access to the Arctic shelf to be open to foreign and private companies
The Ministry of Natural Resources of Russia supports the liberalisation of access of companies to the Arctic shelf, which was proposed earlier by the Ministry for Development of the Russian Far East and Arctic.
19 June 2020According to TASS, this was reported by the press office of the Ministry.
'The Ministry of Natural Resources of Russia conceptually supports the proposal to expand the pool of participants in the exploration and production on the shelf. In particular, the proposal on arranging and holding negotiations and selecting potential participants in projects for joint development of offshore areas deserves attention. This will allow having a sufficient understanding of the prospects of a specific investment project planned for implementation on the shelf as early as at the initial stage of licensing', the Ministry said.
However, the Ministry of Natural Resources declares the need to maintain the existing licensing system for subsoil use on the continental shelf in accordance with Russian laws on mineral resources. All companies must comply with environmental requirements, regardless of whether they are public or private, the Ministry of Natural Resources emphasised.