In April, the Russian government proposed to suspend issuing licenses to extract oil and gas from Russia's shelf deposits until a final decision on whether to grant private companies access to the Russian shelf was made.
"The proposal [to suspend issuing shelf licenses] has been considered, but we continue to issue licenses under the current legislation. Until the final decision is made, we continue to work as usual. Today, the law stipulates the noncompetitive issuing of licenses to develop fields on the shelf," Donskoi told RIA Novosti in an interview.
According to Donskoi, Rosneft and Gazprom will soon receive new licenses for the development of four fields on the shelf.
Until now, only two Russian state-run energy companies – Rosneft and Gazprom – have been granted licenses to explore the nation’s Arctic shelf.
