Gazprom's new energy strategy is to be presented at the board’s meeting on March 22.
Photo: Nikolay Cyiganov
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Gazprom Needs $13 Bln for Power Energy Assets
Gazprom’s board of directors is going to consider the company’s new power energy strategy this week. The Russian gas monopolist plans to buy controlling stakes in two wholesale power generation companies as well as smaller stakes in three territorial power firms. Gazprom will need $13.3 billion for these purchases, according to analysts.
The new energy strategy is to be presented at the board’s meeting on March 22, a source in Gazprom told Kommersant. The company has been drafting the paper since 2005 when Chief Executive Alexey Miller announced plans to make Gazprom a global energy holding.
As Russia will transfer to market gas and power prices, Gazprom will be able reap profits from power energy sales on the retail and wholesale markets. Heads of Gazprom and RAO UES Alexey Miller and Anatoly Chubais agreed earlier this month that in 2010 the Russian gas giant will sell to the power grid half of the gas they need at a fixed price. UES will have to buy the remaining amount at the exchange or in direct contracts with independent producers. The two companies have already agreed on the amount of supplies for the next three years. The energy company will have to pay for the gas they have contracted no matter if their real needs are less that the earlier determined figures.
Another keynote in Gazprom’s energy strategy is a plan for a move in coal-based power generation. Experts at Gazprom say that this will help to contain the growing gas consumption in Russia between 2010 and 2015. What is more, coal generation is believed to be more profitable than the gas one. This part of the strategy was ready long before Gazprom and SUEK decided to set up a large coal energy corporation, a drafter of the strategy said.
A Kommersant source in Gazprom also reported that the strategy includes a proposal to buy two wholesale power companies of UES, OGK-2 and OGK-6, and acquire smaller stakes in territorial power generation firms TGK-1, TGK-3, which is Moscow’s power grid, and TGK-7. The list is, however, open to amendments.
Industry experts consider TGK-1 to be the most expensive purchase – its value is $600 per kWT of power, according to market quotations. TGK-7 will also take a lot of money as its controlling stake is estimated to be worth $3.4 billion. Under early estimates, the total price of controlling stakes in the five power firms that Gazprom would like buy is $13.3 billion.
www.kommersant.com
All the Article in Russian as of Mar. 19, 2007
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