By Sylvia Pfeifer
(Filed: 17/09/2006)
Russia’s natural resources ministry has stepped up its pressure on foreign oil companies amid increasing signs of the state’s tightening grip on the country’s energy industry.
The ministry has written to Royal Dutch Shell, ExxonMobil and France’s Total to demand the original texts of production-sharing agreements (PSAs) signed in the 1990s, as well as amendments and forecasts. The agreements, which include two huge projects on Sakhalin island in the far east of Russia, were signed at a time when oil prices were low and Russia was eager for foreign capital to invest in its energy reserves.