Russian gov't undecided on privatizing Rosneft in 2014 - Dergunova
MOSCOW. Oct 10 (Interfax) - Russia's Federal Property Agency (Rosimushchestvo) does not have any information on the possibility of privatizing Rosneft in 2014, as the government is undecided and the structure of the deal undetermined, Rosimushchestvo chief Olga Dergunova said.
"We have no documented confirmation that this deal will take place in 2014, not now and not when the budget was formed. We have not yet seen the structure of the deal or, correspondingly, the government's decision," she said at a meeting of the State Duma Committee on Property.
Dergunova added that there was a polemic between the Finance Ministry and Rosimushchestvo about whether or not to factor into the revenue portion of the 2015 budget 100 billion rubles in Rosneftegaz dividends that will result from Rosneft's privatization.
"The Finance Ministry, as the administrator, believed it was appropriate to [factor in the 100 billion rubles], though we have a high risk that this 100 billion rubles will not come," she said, adding that as soon as this figure was written into the draft budget law, the issue has not been further discussed.
Economic Development Minister Alexei Ulyukayev said last week that he believed that the sale of the government's stake in Rosneft was possibly before the end of the year.
"It'd be tight, but it would be possible for a publicly traded company that investors know and so on, but it wouldn't be easy, of course. But theoretically I think it'd be possible [to privatize the oil company] before the end of the year," Ulyukayev told reporters.
The government's plans for 2015 include the privatization of 19.5% of Rosneft stake. Russia will still hold controlling stake in the company.
Last week at VTB Capital's "Russia Calling!" forum in Moscow, Russian President Vladimir Putin said Russia was currently considering ways to privatize government stake in the largest energy companies.
"In my pre-election articles and then decrees [in 2012], we talks about - I talked about - how we will manage privatization, but brought up energy companies sort of in parentheses. And now the situation is changing, and I'm not sure that we should keep this position. Moreover, we are now considering possibilities for getting large stake in our largest energy companies that are under state control on the market. We will find these solutions, and I'm sure we'll move forward fairly energetically," he said.
"We are really not going to give up controlling stake for good, but we're considering selling several packages. It might even be too early to talk about this. I'm not sure - has the government already talked about this or not? But if this hasn't yet occurred, then it will be known soon. We are considering such possibilities, and they will likely be carried out. Possibly even this year," Putin said.
As reported, Rosneftegaz is preparing the deal to sell 19.5% of Rosneft's shares. The company's board of directors is headed by Rosneft President Igor Sechin.
The Russian government is Rosneft's main shareholder through Rosneftegaz (69.5%) and BP (19.75%).
