"During a check conducted from December 5 to 8, 2006, inspectors discovered that the territory of the license site leased to Nadymgazprom was partially cluttered up with metal scrap," the Natural Resources Ministry said.
The ministry said that approximately 26,000 metric tons of scrap metal has been dumped at the 32.7-hectare (80 acre) site, which, according to documents agreed to in 1998, should have been cleared of all waste in 2003.
In addition, the ministry said, Nadymgazprom has failed to submit to inspectors project documentation and state approval for some of the work.
The Federal Service for the Oversight of Natural Resources will oblige Nadymgazprom to correct the violations within six months.
Russian authorities have been cracking down recently on companies involved in extracting mineral resources.
On Friday, Russia's environmental watchdog asked prosecutors to take legal action over ecological violations against the East Siberian Gas Company, which is controlled by the British-Russian joint venture TNK-BP [RTS: TNBP] and is building a gas pipeline in East Siberia.
Another multibillion-dollar project, Sakhalin-II, which is operated by Royal Dutch Shell, has been accused of inflicting heavy environmental damage on Sakhalin Island in Russia's Far East, including deforestation, toxic waste dumping and soil erosion.
Russia's natural resources minister, Yury Trutnev, said Friday that Russian authorities had all but lost control over compliance with environmental laws in the development of mineral resources, and called for closer supervision.
