A view of the "Coal" outlet. Russia will replace gas by coal in its energy balance to export more gas overseas.
Photo: Diana Dadasheva
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Gazprom to Get Control Over Russia’s Coal
By this summer, the coal giant, Siberian Energy Co. (SUEK) will merge into the gas monopoly of the country, Gazprom, completing consolidation of heat-and-power engineering assets of Russia. Today’s owners of SUEK, Andrey Melnichenko and Sergey Popov will turn into the minor partners of the government. As to Gazprom, its 13.5 percent in RAO UES of Russia will suffice to win control over a third of the country’s energy coal.
Gazprom CEO Alexey Miller and SUEK General Director Vladimir Rashevsky sealed yesterday the protocol of intention to set up a joint venture “based on available energy and coal assets.” Gazprom’s ownership will amount to 50 percent plus a stock; the deal is expected to be completed in the first half of this year.
SUEK will contribute all assets, the company’s representative said. In Gazprom, however, they speak only of some sizeable assets, signaling the monopoly will hardly part with all stakes in the energy companies. The name of the future venture is yet to be decided.
This coal project of Gazprom was apparently set to motion past fall. Exactly at that time, Putin’s administration revived the idea of replacing gas by coal in the energy balance of the country and was duly backed up by the president in this undertaking. Nowadays, the coal covers just 13 percent of Russia’s energy needs, but the share is expected to soar to 35 percent by 2015. The reasons of such shift in the strategy are obvious. Russia needs more gas to export.
www.kommersant.com
All the Article in Russian as of Feb. 09, 2007
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