Gazprom May Cede Kovykta Field to State Co-Paper

Russian gas export monopoly Gazprom is likely to cede control of the huge Kovykta gas field in eastern Siberia to a state holding company, a Russian newspaper reported on Wednesday, citing unnamed sources.

TNK-BP, owned 50 percent each by BP and a quartet of Russia-connected businessmen, agreed in 2007 to sell Kovykta to Gazprom for around $1 billion.

But the deal has repeatedly been delayed due to disagreements over price. The field has reserves of about 2 trillion cubic metres of gas and a $20 billion project is under way to develop it.

Business daily Kommersant, quoting unnamed sources in the government and TNK-BP, said the rights to develop Kovykta may eventually be transferred to state holding company Rosneftegaz, which owns 75.16 percent of Russia's biggest oil company, Rosneft.

Rosneftegaz, which also holds 10.74 percent of Gazprom, is chaired by powerful energy tsar and Deputy Prime Minister Igor Sechin.

Gazprom spokesman Sergei Kupriyanov and TNK-BP spokesman Nikolai Gorelov declined to comment on the report.

Russia's Natural Resources Ministry had repeatedly warned TNK-BP that it might lose the rights to Kovykta, saying it has failed to follow the obligations outlined in its licence.

In June, Gazprom Deputy Chief Executive Alexander Ananenkov said a decline in demand in Russia and abroad caused by the global economic crisis may prompt it to postpone the launch of the Kovykta gas field until after 2017.