Debunking the Oil Myth --part 8!!
Ten years from now, the US might be "controlling" nothing more than the few oil patches discovered by Colonel Drake 145 years ago(*) --clue:
31.12.2004 08:15:00 GMT
CNPC may receive 20% share of core Yukos production unit
Moscow. (Interfax-China) - The assets of Yuganskneftegaz, the core production unit of Yukos sold at an auction on December 19, will be transferred to a separate, wholly state-owned company, the Russian Industry and Energy Ministry's Public Relations Center said in a statement, quoting Viktor Khristenko, the ministry's head.
Khristenko was also quoted as saying that up to 20% of the new company may be offered to China National Petroleum Corporation (CNPC).
Agreements signed with CNPC allow Russia and CNPC to buy each other's assets, the Center said. They allow Russia, for example, to buy CNPC assets in third countries and in China itself. The agreements reflect strategic understandings reached by Russia and China on expanding energy cooperation.
The consolidation of Gazprom and Rosneft assets is going to plan and will be completed in January, in accordance with approved decisions, Khristenko said. "Yuganskneftegaz will not be among the assets to be consolidated, primarily because the state as Gazprom's main shareholder does not intend to increase its direct participation beyond a controlling interest," the statement reads.
The intent to sell the 20% stake to the CNPC is a positive development, Russian Union of Industrialists and Entrepreneurs Arkady Volsky told Interfax on Thursday.
"One can only welcome this fact. The Chinese are reliable partners and will pay cash for a package of Yuganskneftegaz shares," he said
Asked what he thought of the Russian authorities' decision to allow the Chinese company to handle Yuganskneftegaz assets, Volsky said. "I would quote from Deng Xiaoping, whom I knew well: 'The cat's color is unimportant as long as it catches mice.'"
As Interfax reported last week, the state-owned Rosneft acquired the Baikal Finance Group, a shell company that bought 76.79% of Yuganskneftegaz at the auction after a decision in a US bankruptcy court made it difficult for Gazprom to take part.
Speculation lingered regarding the precise involvement of CNPC, the state-owned Chinese oil company, in the series of transactions. A CNPC delegation was in Moscow to hold discussions with Gazprom on the eve of the December 19 auction.
Experts within China have been calling for more government-to-government energy deals with Russia, especially when imports provided to China by Yukos were suspended earlier in the year.
interfax.com
(*) la.essortment.com |
