oil
A spokesman for Russia's Gazprom said on Friday that contrary to press reports, the state-controlled energy giant has no interest in acquiring a 20 per cent stake in Spanish oil company Repsol-YPF
15.11.08 - 10:25 -
A spokesman for Russia's Gazprom said on Friday that contrary to press reports, the state-controlled energy giant has no interest in acquiring a 20 per cent stake in Spanish oil company Repsol-YPF.
"Gazprom had no intention, and has no intention, to buy 20 per cent of the shares of the company Repsol," Sergei Kuprianov said. "All the commentaries are related to the fact that they want to sell that packet and not because someone wants to buy it, which is not the same thing."
It was Gazprom's first public response to statements made earlier this week in Madrid by Russian Deputy Premier Alexander Zhukov about the firm's supposed interest in Repsol.
Speaking after a meeting with Spanish Industry Minister Miguel Sebastián, Zhukov said Gazprom was mulling the purchase of Spanish builder Sacyr Vallehermoso's 20 per cent stake in Repsol.
Sacyr, which has been hard hit by Spain's severe housing downturn, announced two months ago that it might sell some assets, including its Repsol's shares.
The shares of both Repsol and Sacyr rose on the Madrid exchange after Zhukov's remarks, while those of Gazprom continued their decline on the Moscow stock market.
Earlier on Friday, Prime Minister José Luis Rodríguez Zapatero discounted the notion that Gazprom might buy a stake in Repsol, while Economy Minister Pedro Solbes said he was firmly opposed to the idea.
Repsol's CEO, Antonio Brufau, said on Thursday that regardless of what Sacyr did with its shares, the oil company would remain "private, independent and Spanish."
Gazprom, headed for several years by current Russian President Dmitry Medvedev, expressed interest in cooperation with Repsol during a 2005 visit to Moscow by Spain's then-minister of Industry, Trade and Tourism, José Montilla.
Russia's energy giants will act responsibly in moving to acquire shares in European firms, Medvedev said on Thursday during a meeting with energy executives in the French resort city of Cannes.
