Russian natural gas producer Itera says it has no plans to sell its 49% stake in Sibneftegaz oil and gas company to the country's largest independent gas producer Novatek, Kommersant business daily reported on Thursday.
"We do not plan to sell the stake in Sibneftegaz. This is out of the question," the paper quoted Itera Chairman Igor Makarov as saying.
Previous media reports claimed Novatek had offered minority Sibneftegaz shareholders to sell their 49 percent in the company for 25.88 billion rubles ($867 million). Novatek, in which Gazprom owns 19.4 percent, bought 51 percent of Sibneftegaz for 26.88 billion rubles from Gazprom in December. A source close to the Itera management was quoted as saying that by losing Sibneftegaz, Itera would lose its business in the Sverdlovsk region in the Urals, where it was the main gas producer.
Sibneftegaz holds licenses to develop four fields in the northern Russian Yamal region , which accounts for 90% of the country's gas production and 20% of the world's output. The company's total reserves amount to 400 billion cubic meters of natural gas.
MOSCOW, January 27 (RIA Novosti)
