"Baikalfinancegroup" in "Development"

YUKOS assets will be transferred to Rosneft, possibly with the participation of the Chinese

Rosneft, which is going to buy back its shares (9.44%) from YUKOS, seems to intend to act according to the same scheme that it applied when purchasing Yuganskneftegaz. As it became known yesterday, a certain LLC “Razvitie” made a deposit for participation in the auction on March 27 for the sale of Rosneft shares in the amount of 39 billion rubles. ($1.5 billion). By the way, at the auction for the sale of Yuganskneftegaz, Baikalfinancegroup contributed $1.7 billion as a deposit. The press service of Rosneft told Vremya Novostey that they do not know whether Razvitie LLC is connected with their company. And a source in oil circles did not rule out that this time it is quite possible that the China National Petroleum Company (CNPC), as a result of financial schemes, will finally receive a small stake in Rosneft, paying for it at the market price (and, most likely, more than that , what will happen at the auction on March 27). The fact is that on the eve of the auction, Chinese President Hu Jintao is coming to Moscow on a four-day visit to meet with Vladimir Putin. The Russian president is known to always be aware of the details of major transactions in the country's energy sector.

Rosneft, burdened with debt, is now unable to pay even the initial 195.5 billion rubles for its shares. ($7.5 billion) - just as she couldn’t pay exactly the same amount for Yuganskneftegaz at the end of 2004. It cannot resort to borrowing now - money from foreign financial institutions will be needed when purchasing refining capacities from YUKOS, which the state oil company needs more than a block of its own shares that does not affect anything. That is why it is important for her that, on the one hand, the winner of the March 27 auction does not turn out to be a hostile structure, and on the other, that Rosneft itself can determine how many of its shares and at what price the new shareholder will get. Moreover, he will get it if he participates with money in the YUKOS auction.

As you know, the deal to purchase Yuganskneftegaz followed approximately the same pattern. A certain Baikalfinancegroup LLC, registered in the building of the Tver restaurant "London", made a deposit and won the auction. Those raising the signs, as it later turned out, were people working at Surgutneftegaz. And Vladimir Putin, answering a question about the owners of Baikalfinancegroup, said: “As you know, the shareholders of this company are exclusively individuals, but these are individuals who have been involved in business in the energy sector for many years. As far as I am informed, they intend to build some kind of relationship with other Russian energy companies that have an interest in this asset. And within the framework of current legislation, participants in this process have the right to work with this asset further after the auction.” And literally a day later, this LLC was sold to Rosneft, which then contributed the balance of $5.8 billion and began to own the company. At the same time, Rosneft, as a result of complex financial schemes, took $6 billion from Chinese state banks as an advance payment for oil supplies until 2010 in the amount of 48.4 million tons.

In principle, this scheme can work this time too. However, it cannot be said that the Chinese are very interested in such a development of events. Apparently, the topic of cooperation in the oil sector will be discussed by Vladimir Putin and Hu Jintao on March 26, and it is quite possible that the leaders of the two countries will find a compromise solution. After all, the 9.44% stake in Rosneft does not pose any strategic risks for our country, and in order to deepen cooperation it can be sold to CNPC as the opening of Russia’s year in China. However, as the head of the Russian-Chinese center for trade and economic cooperation, Sergei Sanakoev, told Vremya Novostei, the visit program does not even hint at CNPC joining the capital of Rosneft. However, he did not rule out that this may be due to a reluctance to limit state leaders in any way in the negotiations.

Nikolay GORELOV