ST. PETERSBURG, January 24 - RAPSI. The commercial court will hear on February 20 an appeal filed by a joint enterprise composing Naryanmarneftegaz, LUKoil and Conoco Philips against a court decision to resume proceedings in an environmental watchdog's lawsuit to recover $15.71 million from the company, the court's website reads.

LUKOIL holds a 70-percent stake in Naryanmarneftegaz. Conoco Phillips has a 30-percent share.

According to an appeal filed by the Federal Service for the Supervision of Natural Resources for the Nenets Autonomous Region, an appeals court dismissed a first-instance court's decision last November to suspend the hearing in a case to recover payments from Naryanmarneftegaz for negatively impacting the environment.

The Arkhangelsk Regional Commercial Court suspended the proceedings in October as Naryanmarneftegaz and the service are involved in a similar hearing on the recovery of a 249.46 million ruble ($8.07 million) payment from the company for disposing saline oily waste water generated from hydrocarbon production and oil treatment at the Varandey facility in the first quarter of 2008.

According to the commercial court, there is no legal connection between the lawsuits, as the subjects of dispute are different and the first-instance court had no reason to suspend the proceedings under a 486 million ruble lawsuit ($15.72 million).

The service's regional department also seeks to recover from Naryanmarneftegaz a payment for disposing saline oily waste water generated from hydrocarbon production and oil treatment at the Varandey facility in the first and second quarters of 2007.