Yesterday

rejected substantive amendments to the bill on liberalizing the export of liquefied natural gas (LNG), committee head Ivan Grachev said yesterday. According to him, the amendments of deputy Andrei Krutov, which coincided with the expert opinion of Rosneft, were rejected, proposing to limit NOVATEK’s LNG export capabilities. Mr. Krutov explained that he fears the option in which NOVATEK could become an operator exporting LNG from other companies. The amendment of United Russia deputy Alexander Vasilenko (previously worked at LUKOIL), who, on the contrary, proposed simplifying access to exports for private subsoil users, was also rejected.

Interfax, Yuri Barsukov

NK "Rosneft"

sent a request to a number of foreign banks about the conditions for attracting a syndicated pre-export loan for $5 billion, sources in the financial market said. However, according to one of them, the oil company is only studying the market for demand and borrowing costs, and at the moment there is no confidence that the deal will actually take place. According to another source, Rosneft now has a comfortable debt load, and it is unlikely to need additional funds this year, so the syndicate may be closed next year. Rosneft stated that it does not plan to attract pre-export financing.

"Interfax"

JSC "Corporation "Konti""

and Continent Energy LLC must pay Atomenergoprom (which unites civil assets of Rosatom) more than 1 billion rubles. for the shares of OJSC Polycrystalline Silicon Plant (ZPK), the Ninth Arbitration Court of Appeal decided. The court also rejected the counterclaim of Continent Energy against Atomenergoprom for the termination of the securities purchase and sale agreement. The first instance in July, on the contrary, sided with the Conti group. ZPK is currently a problematic project due to the sharp drop in world prices for polysilicon (see Kommersant on March 22).

RAPSI, Vladimir Dzaguto

State Duma Committee on Energy