Representatives of UK oil firm Imperial Energy have met with Russia's ministry of natural resources to discuss a number of license obligation violations that have been made by some of the group's subsidiaries.
During the meeting, Oleg Mitvol, deputy head of Russia’s environmental watchdog, outlined a number of infringements that had made by subsidiaries of Imperial while they carried out their oil operations in Russia. The violations were discovered by the environmental body during an inspection of Imperial’s activities.
The primary issue was that Imperial had constructed an oil pipeline within a designated fire protection zone. According to the watchdog, Imperial assured it that the mistake had been made by contractors without the company’s knowledge.
Imperial also assured the environmental body that it would provide all oil reserve data for the company’s licensed areas in Russia, so that the previously unreleased figures could be included in Russia’s reserve records.
Imperial energy has been eager to remedy the violations, and, in a press release, Peter Levine, chairman of the company, commented: We continue to engage the ministry in constructive discussions.
Imperial’s willingness to cooperate is perhaps no surprise, as, according to Reuters, the Russia’s ministry of natural resources had threatened to revoke the company’s operating licenses in the country, as well as to stop oil being transported through the newly constructed pipeline.