RF govt to decide on licenses to Gazprom, Rosneft for offshore

MOSCOW, February 17 (Itar-Tass) -- The Russian government will decide
whether to issue licenses to Gazprom and Rosneft for the development of
offshore fields on the country's continental shelf, Deputy Minister of
Natural Resources Darya Vasilevskaya said.
Gazprom and Rosneft have requested licenses for the same offshore
fields.
"The Russian government will decide how to solve the issue either by
issuing [a license] to one of them or to both," Vasilevskaya said.
She also said that Gazprom and Rosneft were negotiating possible joint
development of the fields but no documents had been signed so far.