MOSCOW, December 7 - RAPSI. A court will start hearing on December 20 the lawsuit by the Kamchatka Region Nature Protection Prosecutor's Office against Gazprom to stop drilling a wildcat well on the Okhotsk Sea shore, the court told the Russian Legal Information Agency (RAPSI/rapsinews.com).

"The first hearing will be held on December 20," said the court.

The prosecutor's office submitted a claim against Gazprom, Gazflot, Arktikmorneftegazrazvedka to invalidate the wildcat well drilling on the Okhotsk Sea's shelf.

According to the office, Gazprom holds the subsoil use license, but the given area is a habitat of whales included in the ICUN Red List. That is why in planning geological works all possible environmental measures must be taken.

The prosecutor's office also said that rookeries, fish habitats, mammals migration paths and concentration places are located in environmentally dangerous areas.

The drilling project was negatively appraised by state environmental experts since it does not meet environmental requirements established by legislation, the supervisory agency says.

Gazprom has yet to comment to RAPSI.