Russ Oil-Gas

Sep. 11, 2007 – Kommersant – Buying out Surgutneftegaz would be of interest to Russia’s government, forecasted Boris Jordan, chief of Sputnik Investment Ltd. Surgutneftegaz could be bought out by either Gazprom or Rosneft, the financier forecasted during the Reuters Russia Investment Summit on Monday. But the emerged giant would be too big, he signaled predicting that only three oil giants would be left in Russia in the long-term. “Something has to happen around Surgut… There is probably a fit with Gazprom, or with Rosneft, although it creates a too big company,” Jordan said as quoted by Reuters. His reason for such forecast is the recent surge in Surgutneftegaz quotes. Surgutneftegaz is one of Russia’s biggest oil companies, covering exploration, construction and development of oil and gas fields, as well as production and sales of oil and petrochemical product. Its recoverable reserves are estimated at around 2.5 billion tons of the oil equivalent. The company has stock capital of 43,427,992,940 rubles split into 35,725,994,705 common and 7,701,998,235 preferred stocks, 1 ruble par value each. Surgutneftegaz Pension Fund has 8.1 percent in the company, and other holders own the remaining 91.9 percent.