Terry Macalister and Tom Parfitt
Tuesday September 26, 2006
Western oil companies were in confusion about the investment climate in Russia last night after the government appeared to soften its position with Shell but opened a new line of attack against BP.
Yuri Trutnev, natural resources minister, said there would be a full inquiry into environmental problems at Shell’s $20bn Sakhalin-2 scheme but insisted the operating permit was safe – for now.
“There is no question of removing the licence because of the result of the investigations. The inspection should only examine whether the operator is abiding by the environmental protection legislation,” said Mr Trutnev.