Gazprom and Rosneft signed an agreement to join forces in the production and delivery of oil, gas and electricity, the two companies said in a joint statement Tuesday.
They each will own 50 percent in the joint ventures, the statement said. Under the strategic partnership agreement that will run until 2015, Gazprom and Rosneft will make joint bids for oil and gas licenses.
Rosneft also agreed to sell its natural gas output – expected to reach 13.5 billion cubic meters this year – to Gazprom, the statement said. Rosneft chiefly pumped the gas back under the ground before, Rosneft spokesman Nikolai Manvelov said. Gazprom is reportedly planning to hike its own production by 10 bcm next year.
Signed by Gazprom CEO Alexei Miller and Rosneft CEO Sergei Bogdanchikov, the agreement marks a warming of relations between the two companies, which became bitter rivals after they aborted merger talks last year.
The underlying reason for the closer ties could be the coming sale of the remaining assets held by bankrupt oil firm Yukos, said Vladimir Vedeneyev, an analyst at the Bank of Moscow.
«Why compete? Competition generates high prices», he said. But Andrei Gromadin, an analyst at MDM Bank, said the agreement would not prevent the companies from competing for the assets.
The goal of the agreement, he said, was to provide Gazprom access to Rosneft's gas fields on the Yamal Peninsula and on Sakhalin Island. Rosneft will in return obtain a stable sales market for its gas, Gromadin said. |
