Russia drafts law to protect Caspian oil platforms

A group of Russian State Duma deputies, led by Energy Committee Chairman Nikolai Shulginov, has submitted a bill establishing a legal regime for the anti-terrorist protection of Russian oil and gas platforms in the Caspian Sea. The legislation explicitly authorizes security personnel to shoot down unmanned aerial vehicles that attack these facilities. The regulation will directly impact the operations of LUKOIL, which conducts offshore production at the Y. Korchagin and V. Filanovsky fields in the Russian sector. The bill proposes that security zones around this critical energy infrastructure be established automatically by law, rather than by separate government decision.