US Worried Over Snarled Energy Links With Russia - AP

[hatrack]

MOSCOW — "The United States is worried that the much-touted energy cooperation between Moscow and Washington might be faltering, a senior U.S. energy official said Monday.

"We are concerned about some negative trends that might be developing," U.S. Deputy Energy Secretary Kyle McSlarrow said at the Moscow State Institute of International Relations. "There is an issue with barring foreigners from participation in licensing tenders ... and we've seen on occasion selective application of the law."

He cited the "faltering of major initiatives" such as the development of oil fields off the Far Eastern island of Sakhalin among the concerns. In January, the Russian government said it wouldn't issue a license for the development of the Sakhalin-3 oil project to a consortium led by two U.S. companies, ExxonMobil and ChevronTexaco. The group won a tender for the project in 1993, but the license was never issued due to the lack of a legal framework for production-sharing agreements.

The Russian government has since passed laws that make those agreements unfeasible. The ExxonMobil-led consortium, which also includes the Russian state-owned Rosneft, has already spent US$600 million to explore the oil-rich shelf and has said that it will pursue licensing terms under standard Russian legislation. But it warned that the cancellation of the tender sent a negative signal to foreign investors."

EDIT

http://www.enn.com/news/2004-06-08/s_24631.asp