Minister's ire at Gazprom move

Speaking out: Andrei Sharonov

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Anthea Pitt

 03 October 2005 09:35 GMT

Russia's gas monopoly Gazprom should pump cash into its core gas business rather than spending billions of dollars on buying oil assets, a senior government official said today.



"It is currently evident that Gazprom is systematically under-investing in strategic sectors such as gas production and pipeline reconstruction," Deputy Economy Minister Andrei Sharonov told Reuters in an interview.

His comments are some of the harshest by a government official on the state-controlled player's recent spending spree.

Last week, Gazprom said it was buying oil producer Sibneft for $13.1 billion from the owner of English soccer club Chelsea, Roman Abramovich, as part of a strategy to turn itself into a global diversified energy giant.

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