Shares returned to Sibneft but may now be sold to Gazprom

MOSCOW, July 21 (RIA Novosti) - The Moscow Basmanny court ruled yesterday that the 14.5% stake in the Sibneft oil giant that was frozen a year ago for Yukos debts should be returned, the online news service Gazeta.ru reported Thursday.

It is widely rumored that Sibneft head Roman Abramovich lobbied the court (until Wednesday Abramovich owned 57.5% of the company) and that he plans to sell the company to the state gas monopoly Gazprom.

Yukos took over Sibneft's shares after a merger during which Yukos exchanged 8.8% of its shares for a 34.5% stake in Sibneft. Soon afterwards, Yukos was hit with back-tax bills, and Sibneft's offshore owners sued it for merger termination but were unsuccessful because the shares were arrested at the request of the Prosecutor General's Office.

Sibneft has now regained control of 14.5% of the shares. Lev Snykov, a FIM Securities analyst, said that the remaining 20% of Sibneft shares, owned by Yukos, were arrested again on July 6 this year at the request of Rosneft. Rosneft head Sergei Bogdanchikov said this was necessary to secure Rosneft's claims initiated by Yuganskneftegaz (Yukos subsidiary).

But this is only a pretext. Alexei Makarkin, deputy general director of the Center for Political Technologies, is convinced that the real reason for the second arrest of the 20% stake is the battle between Gazprom and Rosneft for control over Sibneft.

The release of 14.5% of Sibneft shares deserves closer attention in this context. Had Rosneft gained control of this block of shares, its share in Sibneft would have been slightly above a blocking stake. Therefore, the state company would have had the right to block majority decisions in the board of directors. As Gazprom and Rosneft are controlled by rival groups in the Kremlin, such a turn of events would have led to constant conflict in asset management.

Snykov believes the release of Sibneft shares lessens the risk that it will be taken over by state-owned companies.