Victoria Oil says has not been queried by Russian regulators on oil reserves

The company has "not been notified by any ministerial body" in Russia that regulators will be probing the way it books reserves, said a spokesman for Victoria Oil, the developer of the West Medvezhye gas field in Siberia.

He gave the comment after Oleg Mitvol, deputy head of the Russian environmental watchdog Rosprirodnadzor, accused Imperial Energy PLC last week of inflating its reserves and failing to meet its license obligations.

Imperial was just one of the several energy and mining companies which Mitvol was reportedly targeting in his reserves investigation. According to the Russian press, Victoria Oil and Sibir Energy PLC were in the list.

The resource estimates of both Imperial and Victoria Oil are assessed by independent auditor DeGolyer & MacNaughton (D&M).

The Victoria Oil spokesman described the press reports as "media speculation." But should they eventually turn out to be true, the company will "cooperate (with the Russian authorities) to the fullest" extent possible, he said.

Sibir Energy said on Friday that the reserves estimates at its Siberian fields were calculated based on Russia's own standards.

"Sibir would like to state for the record that the reserves figures reported by the company are the Russian standard reserves as reported by the Russian State Committee on Reserves," the company said in a statement.

"For the avoidance of doubt, Sibir's reserves and those of the Russian State Committee on Reserves are one and the same," it said.

D&M uses the internationally-accepted Society of Petroleum Engineers standards, which are different from the methods used by Russian regulators.

At 11.55 am, Imperial Energy shares were down over 8 pct at 1,210 pence, while Victoria Oil shares were off 2 pct at 46-3/4 pence. Sibir Energy shares were up over a penny at 456-3/4 pence.

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