Legal Aspects of State Support for the Production of Associated Petroleum Gas. Current Legal Regulation and Problematic Issues

Abstract

This article is dedicated to legal questions of state regulation of the recycling and utilization of the associated petroleum gas during the mining. According to the author extracting associated petroleum gas and of dry stripped gas is to be regulated by the legislation on gas supply. This article stipulates 3 questions: 1) can the terms, which are «binding» under the art.12 of the Russian Subsoil Law, be qualified as «substantial« terms under the art. 20 (2) (2) of the same Law, 2) whether the breach of the associated petroleum gas output stipulated by mining permit (license) forms the breach of the «substantial» term of the mining license, which leads to its termination (suspension or limitation); 3) can the «substantial» terms of mining license be identified with substantial terms of private law contract under the art. 432 (1) (2) of the Russian Civil Code or at least to be seen as its analogue. Notwithstanding the fact that the extraction of the stripping of the associated petroleum gas as well as of stripped dry gas is de facto a kind of recycling, it cannot be qualified as recycling under the art. 220 of the Russian Civil Code.