Vekselberg sees TNK-BP deal ‘by summer’
Russian oil company TNK-BP's deal to sell control of the giant Kovykta gas
field to state gas monopoly Gazprom and retain some development rights
should be closed by summer, TNK-BP shareholder Viktor Vekselberg has said.
"I continue to believe that this deal will be closed. By summer it should
definitely be closed," Vekselberg, one of the BP oil venture's Russian
co-owners, told Reuters in an interview.
He said it was right to put control of the field, whose volumes were partly
designated for a regulated local market, into the hands of a state monopoly.
He said the deal would proceed under terms agreed last summer. TNK-BP's chief
executive has said that it would close by the end of April, but this week, a
senior Gazprom official expressed disappointment with stalled progress.
"This huge deal, complicated, is the work of two sides, ours and Gazprom. I
think that maybe we did not work as effectively together as we would have
liked," Vekselberg said.
"But this doesn't put a question mark over it."
28 April 2008 02:03 GMT
| last updated:
28 April 2008 02:03 GMT
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