Gazprom unlikely to need board approval for Kovykta assets buy
MOSCOW. March 30 (Interfax) - Gazprom will probably not have to ask its board to approve the acquisition of assets of the bankrupt Rusia Petroleum , which holds the license to the giant Kovykta gas condensate field in the Irkutsk region, as the cost of the deal before VAT does not amount to more than 0.3% of the value of the Russian gas giant's assets as of the end of 2010.
Gazprom spokesman Sergei Kupriyanov has told Interfax that the deal would be referred to the board it came to more than 0.3% of the company's assets.
Gazprom said in a statement that its assets totaled 7.828 trillion rubles as of December 31, 2010, so the deal would have been subject to board approval it if had cost more than 23.48 billion rubles.
Gazprom paid 25.8 billion rubles for the Rusia Petroleum assets including VAT. The assets themselves cost 21.01 billion rubles and the VAT was 3.5 billion rubles, and Gazprom paid another 1.3 billion rubles for LLC Kovyktaneftegaz.
In other words, the deal will not have to be approved by the board if VAT is left out but it might if VAT is included.
Gazprom's press office is not yet commenting.
