Moscow ratcheted up pressure on BP’s Russian venture on Monday, warning that TNK-BP could see the licence for its vast Kovykta gas field revoked within “a matter of days”.

Oleg Mitvol, head of Russia’s environmental watchdog, said his agency would open a probe on Wednesday into whether TNK-BP was meeting licence terms to develop the east Siberian field – as a three-month deadline passed for production there to be boosted to 9 billion cubic metres in line with requirements. TNK-BP has said this target would be impossible to meet.