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| An oil spill is seen in the waters of Siberian Yenisei River (Reuters/Ilya Naymushin) |
The Russian
oil industry is coming under fire from the government for pollution. A week
after TNK-BP was accused of causing hundreds of oil spills in Siberia, Russian
oil major Lukoil reported a significant oil spill in the Arctic.
Some 2,200
tonnes of oil could have leaked as a result of an accident at the Trebs oil
deposit in the Nenets Autonomous District in Russia. The field holds about 153
million tons of oil and is being developed by Bashneft Plus, a joint venture
between Russia’s largest oil producer Lukoil and the smaller Bashneft.
Interfax
news agency has quoted an unnamed source in the district administration, saying
a total of 400 cubic meters of oil, or some 800-900 tonnes leaked daily, with
the spill continuing for more than 2 days.
It has
reportedly now been contained with the spilled oil temporarily kept in a
special storage facility. The exact area and amount of damage are still being
determined. Lukoil shares dropped more than 2 per cent in midday trade in
Moscow, which is within the market general downward trend.
Last week
Russia’s Natural Resources and Ecology Minister praise of Lukoil has apparently
brought the evil eye. Yury Trutnev ordered a lawsuit against the Russo-British
oil venture TNK-BP over its numerous oil spills in Siberia saying TNK-BP
reported 784 accidents in 2011 compared with around 20 by its rival, Lukoil.
According
to Trutnev each year up to 500,000 tons of oil and oil products are leaked into
the Russian Ob and Yenisei river basins with TNK-BP being the biggest offender.
Trutnev accused the company of paying too generous dividends instead of
investing in the infrastructure and improving the poor state of the company’s
pipelines. The British part of the company- BP is said to have received $19
billion in dividend payouts since the joint venture was formed in 2003.
Trutnev
gave the company one month to clean up the spills from the polluted 2,200
hectares.
The shares
of Moscow-traded TNK-BP closed down 4.5 percent after the comments,
underperforming the broader market, which was down only 0.3 percent. The shares
of oil major BP, which owns half of TNK-BP were down 1.3 percent.
The action
is another headache for TNK-BP's legal problems and represents a new headache
for BP, which failed last year to secure a lucrative deal to drill in the
Arctic with state-controlled oil major Rosneft.
However,
oil and gas analyst from Gazprombank, Alexander Nazarov says the news will not
have a long-term negative impact on TNK-BP’s shares. “It’s all about the money.
The short-term drop in the company’s shares is caused by investor concern over
dividend payouts. The company will need to allocate up $1.5bln to $2.5bln to
clean up the spills. Compared to the big money the firm pays in dividends this
sum looks insignificant”.
This
current spill at the Lukoil-Bashneft deposit is not the largest though it
certainly adds to worries over pipeline safety coupled with increased calls
from environmentalists spurred by the latest Arctic deal between Rosneft and US
giant Exxon Mobil. Ecologists say offshore production in the Arctic would
destroy the natural habitat.
Nazarov is
not inclined to exaggerate the negative repercussions for nature. “Oil spills
in Russia are not the largest – nor in terms of the amount of oil spilled or in
terms of the environmental consequences. Unlike the US which mostly drills
off-shore Russia’s oil production is 90% onshore. And an onshore oil spill is
nothing like when it happens offshore,” he maintains.
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