FT: Russian energy assets: great game
Russia has so much oil and gas that there ought to be more than enough for everyone. Yet the competition for assets is intense, amid a resources grab by Russian energy companies and a power play among its oligarchs. That is the context for the change of ownership at Severenergia over the past two months. The latest move came on Wednesday, when Novatek and Gazprom Neft bought a stake in the Siberian producer from Italy’s Eni.
- The transaction involves Novatek and Gazprom Neft – an almost-wholly owned subsidiary of Gazprom – buying Eni’s 60 per cent stake in Arctic Russia, which owns 49 per cent of Severenergia, for $3bn. The two Russian partners already own 51 per cent of Severenergia; this deal gives them just over 80 per cent. Eni makes a clean break from the project and a tidy profit – it paid $600m for the assets in 2007.