03 February 2005, 17:11 Business

The money will be found somewhere in Asia

Irina Kryuchkova China says it did not give money to Yuganskneftegaz. Immediately, India offered the services of Rosneft, which lays claim to a share in the former YUKOS asset. The market believes that the scheme for repaying Rosneft’s debts and the composition of its participants will be determined when the Kremlin decides whether the merger of Gazprom with Rosneft is necessary at all.

China did not lend money to Rosneft to purchase Yuganskneftegaz. spokesman Kong Quan said: Foreign Ministry On Thursday, at a briefing in Beijing , Chinese

“I can state with complete clarity that China did not provide a loan to Russian companies for the purchase of Yuganskneftegaz.

And he added: “As for loans for other purposes, I do not have this information.”

The Rosneft company and the press service of the Ministry of Finance spoke about the same thing the day before: it turns out that Finance Minister Alexei Kudrin was misunderstood at a press conference.

Russian Vnesheconombank, through which, as expected, $6 billion was borrowed from Chinese banks for Rosneft, also refused to be involved in lending to the purchase of Yuganskneftegaz. Vnesheconombank says that these funds were raised to finance long-term and stable supplies of Russian oil to China.

And Rosneft stated that it needed $6 billion “for investments in production and economic activities and the implementation of its capital-intensive strategic projects.”

Just as the market did not believe Rosneft, Vnesheconombank and the Ministry of Finance on Wednesday, it was not convinced by the statements of Chinese diplomats on Thursday. In the IS (organization banned in Russia) “Aton” they believe that

The denials are made to avoid legal claims that could be filed against Russian banks or China if they participate in the purchase of Yuganskneftegaz.

Indirect confirmation that China is still involved in financing the purchase of Yuganskneftegaz was a statement by Subir Rahi, Chairman of the Board of the Indian ONGC.

He said that during negotiations on Indian participation in the purchase of Yuganskneftegaz, “various options” are currently being considered, including taking into account the fact that the Chinese CNPC has allocated $6 billion to Rosneft.

“We are working on different options. I won’t say anything more,” Raha said.

In general, ONGC is ready to provide Rosneft with up to $6 billion: company representatives said that the company is still competing with China for access to Russian hydrocarbon reserves and is negotiating with the authorities about lending Rosneft $4 billion and purchasing a 16-17% stake in Yuganskneftegaz » worth $2 billion.

And a representative of the Indian Ministry of Petroleum said that ONGC is waiting for Russia to announce the terms of the sale: “We are waiting for a response from Russia. India is not just about issuing a loan.”

Another Indian government official said that ONGC requires Russian government guarantees for its investments, but the Russian side refuses to provide them.

Prospekt Investment Company analyst Dmitry Mangilev considers it logical that India wants to enter the Russian energy market and therefore claims a share in Yuganskneftegaz: “This is also due to the fact that China refused to purchase a stake in Yuganskneftegaz (or a company which will be created based on this asset) less blocking. After this, Rosneft and CNPC developed another form of lending to the Russian company - prepayment for oil supplies, the stability of which China is also very interested in.”

The analyst is confident that questions about India’s purchase of a stake in Yuganskneftegaz and the scheme for refinancing all debts incurred during the purchase of this asset should be resolved before the completion of the merger of Gazprom and Rosneft.

“The problem is that the government now does not have a clear plan, since there is a struggle between two groups: some are in favor of not completing the merger and preserving the independence of Rosneft, others are in favor of creating a single state-owned company,” -

says Dmitry Mangilev.

The head of the Federal Antimonopoly Service, Igor Artemyev , said on Thursday that his agency has not yet received applications from Gazprom and Rosneft to authorize the merger: “We have not received any application.”

As a source close to Gazprom told Gazeta.Ru, the concern expects that this issue will be resolved within two months: “A meeting of the board of directors of Gazprom is scheduled for April, the agenda of which includes the issue of developing the oil production sector of the concern. We expect that by this time no one will have any doubt that the merger of Gazprom and Rosneft will be completed in accordance with the previously approved plan.”