OREANDA-NEWS. April 23, 2012. Following the meeting of the Presidium of the Russian Federation Government, TNK-BP (further “the Company”) wishes to state the following, reported the press-centre of TNK-BP:

1. The Company fully shares the concerns of the Chairman of the Government, the Ministry of Natural Resources and the Ministry of Energy over the environmental situation in Russia’s oil & gas producing regions.

2. Since the Company was established in September 2003 environmental protection has been and remains a priority in TNK-BP’s business activities. During that time the Company has invested USD 2.1 bn in environmental programmes, including USD 285 mln at Samotlor over the past past 3 years.

3. To resolve the inherited environmental problems, accumulated since 1962, the Company has established a dedicated Fund with of USD 500 mln, enabling it to remediate 3,199 hectares of previously contaminated land.

4. Since 2004, TNK-BP has replaced 4,200 km of pipeline in the framework of its pipeline integrity assurance program. In 2011 alone, 7.9 billion rubles were spent on pipeline repairs, including replacement of 397 km and inhibition treatment of 12,183 km of pipeline, respectively.
5. As a result the Company reduced the overall frequency of recordable incidents by 21% and the amount of oil spilt by 60% in 2011 relative to 2010.

6. At the same time, the Company recognizes that the environmental situation, especially at mature oil fields, is far from ideal. In 2011 the total quantity of oil products escaping into the environment as a result of accidents in Company pipelines was 75 tonnes (compared to 182 tonnes in 2010). The number of leaks in all the Company’s fields in 2011 was 1,186, compared to 1315 in 2010, including 413 at Samotlor oilfield, compared to 496 the previous year. Even though the frequency of incidents is being steadily reduced, these figures demonstrate the urgency of environmental issues in the Company’s work.

As a socially responsible company, TNK-BP fully shares the concern voiced by the Minister of Natural Resources during a visit to the fields of OJSC Samotlorneftegaz. We are confident that by working together we can agree on plans and rapidly achieve a qualitative breakthrough to demonstrate TNK-BP’s environmental leadership and properly preserve land and water resources used by oil companies.

The Company thanks the Minister of Natural Resources for his attention to the longstanding problems at Samotlor and is hopeful that this visit and vigorous discussion will result in the adoption of effective measures for quickly addressing the problems that have built up over decades in the oil & gas sector.