| The immediate targets are NORSI-Oil and the Moscow Refinery “In the coming months, LUKOIL will absorb another Russian oil company,” LUKOIL President Vagit Alekperov said in Baku last week. Although the name of the company was not mentioned, it is clear to everyone that Alekperov was referring to the Nizhny Novgorod oil refining company NORSI-Oil and its upcoming privatization.
“We have prepared all the documents for the privatization of state-owned shares in NORSI-Oil and submitted them to the government,” Vladimir Malin, chairman of the Russian Federal Property Fund, said last week. According to the Vremya Novostey newspaper, the state stake in NORSI-Oil, consisting of 85.5% of shares, will be divided into two parts: 40% and 45.5%, which will be sold sequentially. An announcement by the Russian Federal Property Fund on the sale of the first portion of shares is expected in the very near future.
According to Mr. Malin, the buyer of the shares will be obliged to supply 6 million tons of oil to the plant annually. The RFFI also intends to demand that the new owner repay NORSI-Oil’s debt to the budget in the amount of 2.5 billion rubles. The total amount of the company's debts is about 5 billion rubles. “LUKOIL will not be able to repay this entire amount, and therefore the government is looking for options for acceptable privatization conditions,” Malin said. It is expected that the initial price of the competition package will be the lowest possible.
LUKOIL has long declared its intentions to buy NORSI-Oil. Last Friday, this intention was officially confirmed by LUKOIL Vice President Leonid Fedun. "We produce more oil than we can process and need this plant to restore the balance," he said. According to him, LUKOIL intends to actively compete in the fuel market in the Central region of Russia with its traditional participants - TNK, YUKOS and Slavneft.
LUKOIL already owns 9% of NORSI-Oil shares. As Fedun reported, LUKOIL also owns a 36% stake in the Moscow Oil Refinery and a 20% stake in Mosnefteprodukt. “As major shareholders, we are going to take part in the management of these Moscow enterprises,” said the vice president of LUKOIL. Oleg CHERNITSKY |
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