Gazprom buys 25 per cent stake in Rosneft's gas project
19 Jul 2008
Mumbai: Russian energy giant Gazprom has agreed to buy a 25 per cent stake in gas transport firm DalTransGas from another state-run company Rosneft, the country's largest oil producer.
The acquisition is part of a broader deal between the two state-controlled energy majors to supply gas to Russia's far east, where DalTransGas builds and operates gas pipelines, Gasprom said in a statement.
Gazprom will give Rosneft access to gas transport facilities in the far eastern Sakhalin-Khabarovsk-Vladivostok pipeline as part of the deal. Gazprom has a monopoly on Russia's main gas pipeline network.
The two companies will also hold talks with the Exxon Mobil-led consortium running the Sakhalin-1 deposit to purchase between 1.5 billion and 2 billion cubic metres of gas to supply the far eastern region of Primorsk.
US energy giant Exxon and Gazprom have differences over selling gas from Sakhalin-1. Exxon is pushing for gas export to Asia while Gazprom says it is needed for the domestic market.
Gazprom and Rosneft have also agreed to consider the possibility of pumping additional gas from the Gazprom-controlled Sakhalin-2 project, on the island of Sakhalin off of Russia's Pacific coast, to provide supplies for Primorsk, the statement said.
Gazprom said it is focusing on the Sakhalin-Khabarovsk-Vladivostok gas transport system and expects to complete the Khabarovsk-Vladivostok gas link in 2011.
