BP will begin its fightback today against Russian authorities threatening the energy group’s hold on the giant Kovykta gasfield, which was discovered in eastern Siberia in 1987.

TNK-BP, the group’s Russian venture, is launching a legal action to clarify the terms of its licence amid mounting speculation that soon it will be forced to hand over a majority stake in the project to Gazprom, the Kremlin-controlled gas group.

Oleg Mitvol, the controversial deputy head of Russia’s environmental watchdog, reiterated yesterday that TNK-BP could have its licence revoked in a matter of days for failing to hit production targets. He said: “Either the company fulfils its obligations or it will lose its licence.”

Rosprirodnadzor, the environmental agency, will inspect the Kovykta field later this week.A three-month deadline to produce more than nine billion cubic metres of gas at Kovykta has already passed. However, TNK-BP argues that it is impossible to reach this target given the lack of a pipeline to reach export markets. Sources at BP claimed that the legal action would determine whether TNK-BP had to hit the nine billion cubic metre goal or simply satisfy local demand.

Analysts said that the attack by Mr Mitvol was a repeat of the tactics he used when threatening to revoke Shell’s lucrative offshore licence at Sakhalin-II. Eventually Gazprom bought a majority stake in the Sakhalin-II project.

James Neale, analyst at Citigroup, said: “The recent rhetoric implies TNK-BP will lose its Kovykta licence. However, we suspect this to be a precursor to a deal with Gazprom.”

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