"Violations of environmental legislation have become widespread," Igor Buksman said adding that Russia's Federal Agency for the Management of Mineral Resources, the Federal Service for the Oversight of Natural Resources and the Federal Service for the Oversight of the Environment, Technology and Nuclear Management were not implementing their obligations in full.
Buksman said that 11,000 violations of environmental legislation were registered in Russia over the last year, and that oil companies were responsible for most of the environmental damage.
Russian authorities have been stepping up pressure on oil producers in recent months. In September, the Natural Resources Ministry withdrew a key environmental permit for the huge Sakhalin II oil and gas project, led by oil major Royal Dutch Shell in Russia's Far East, which is being implemented under a production-sharing agreement dating back to 1994.
In late September, the ministry also announced planned probes into another production-sharing agreement, the Kharyaga deposit in Northern Russia, implemented by the French oil major Total, and the Kovykta gas project in East Siberia, developed by the Anglo-Russian joint venture TNK-BP.
On Tuesday, Sergei Sai, the head of the Federal Service for the Oversight of Natural Resources, said the environmental watchdog's commission was considering the revocation of 30 licenses in Western Siberia following the results of the first six months of 2006. He added that the results of an investigation of 17 licenses have been submitted to environmental protection prosecutors.
Natural Resources Minister Yury Trutnev, who is currently on a working visit to the Khanty-Mansi Autonomous District in Western Siberia, also spoke Tuesday about severe sanctions against companies that violate natural resource regulations.
"Those guilty of violating legislation and provisions of agreements on mineral deposit use will be severely penalized, potentially by the revocation of their licenses for the development of oil and gas fields," said Trutnev.
