Oil rigged

30 September 2010 By Jason Bush

Russian oil majors Lukoil and TNKBP are crying foul after being barred from a landmark tender for two Siberian oilfields. Authorities say they lacked paperwork, but it looks like the tender is being rigged to benefit an oil company backed by President Dmitry Medvedev.

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Russian oil companies TNKBP and Lukoil have criticised their exclusion from a tender to develop the Trebs and Titov oilfields in the Arctic. In a statement to the media, TNKBP said that its documentation was fully in compliance with legislative requirements, indicating that it intended to challenge its disqualification. Lukoil's chairman Valery Graifer has said that the company intends to use all available means to challenge the decision. Gazpromneft has said that it is considering an appeal.

On Sept. 27, Russia's natural resources ministry announced that the interdepartmental Tender Commission had accepted two out of six bids for the Trebs and Titov oilfields. The commission accepted bids from Surgutneftegaz and Bashneft. Bids from TNKBP, Lukoil, Gazpromneft and a unit of India's ONGC were disqualified.

No official reason for the disqualifications was given. Russian media have quoted anonymous government sources stating that the disqualified bids lacked necessary supporting documents and contained technical discrepancies. Russia's natural resources minister Yuri Trutnov has stated that the procedures followed by the Tender Commission fully complied with legislation.

On Aug. 31, Russian newspaper RBK Daily reported that Vladimir Evtushenkov, the owner of Bashneft, had met with President Dmitry Medvedev to discuss the right to develop the Trebs and Titov fields. The paper reported that Medvedev "reacted positively to the request and promised to assist in the decision of this question", citing anonymous sources familiar with the situation.

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