Russia confirms Urals Energy reserves data

25 Sep, 2007

Russia's Ministry of Natural Resources on Monday eased pressure on London-listed, Russia-focused oil firm Urals Energy, saying it had removed its objections to the firm's reserves reporting figures.
Last year, the ministry accused a number of London-listed companies working in Russia of puffing up their reserves in international reports compared with those registered by Russia's state commission responsible for monitoring reserves.
But on Monday it said that the situation had been reversed after Urals Energy had provided additional information and reserves reported domestically were now higher than those reported abroad. This was not a problem.
"According to the data provided by Urals Energy, the company's reserves registered by the state commission are bigger than those estimated by independent auditor DeGolyer and MacNaughton," the ministry said in a statement.
"In some cases, independent valuations are 30 percent lower than those registered by the state," it added. Russia's environmental watchdog RosPrirodNadzor, which is part of the ministry, earlier this year recommended revoking three licences from Urals Energy for failing to meet licence obligations and launched inspections of several sites operated by the firm.

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