In a statement TNK BP countered the claim saying, “We have never received any formal notification of irregularities in the license conditions. We are fully committed to the domestic side of the project, and are going ahead as planned.”

Many analysts believe the move is aimed to ensure state firm Gazprom will secure a larger role in the project. Currently, Gazprom’s involvement in the project is limited to marketing the gas extracted from the field but it has made noises in the past for a share of the production side of the project.

TNK BP is scheduled to start the delivery of gas to the domestic market by 2006. With two trillion cubic metres of gas, Kovytka is BP’s largest gas project in Russia.