Natural Resources Ministry rejects biased stance on YUKOS

A negative decision on the draft Angarsk-Daqing pipeline project is not aimed against YUKOS, Kirill Yankov, Russian Deputy Minister of Natural Resources, announced today. He spoke about this issue at a conference "Environmental projects of Russian corporations" and stressed that the project of a pipeline passing through a national park could not be approved. The YUKOS supported a project of a pipeline from Russia's Angarsk to China's Daqing, stipulating a route passing via a national park. Another possible route, from Angarsk to Nakhodka, was proposed by Transneft.

As reported earlier, on September 3, 2003 the Russian Ministry of Natural Resources recognized the Angarsk-Daqing projects as not corresponding to Russian environmental safety laws. After an independent ecological inspection, experts reported that the project met these laws in general except for the part concerning national parks. The deputy minister noted it was possible to introduce changes to the project to bypass the national park.