Russian gas monopoly eyes European electricity grids

Nov 28, 2006, 12:02 GMT

Moscow - Russia's state-owned natural gas exporter Gazprom Tuesday said it was turning its sights toward acquisition of European electricity companies and grid networks.

Nikolai Ilyakhin, general director of subsidiary Gazpromenergo, said in remarks run by the Russian monopoly's official in-house magazine that his company was already in talks with utilities in Greece, Moldova and Bulgaria.

Ilyakhin did not say how close the company was to signing deals with the utilities, or how much it expected to pay for the stakes it is eyeing.

The acquisition of both electricity generation and grid network assets in Europe, he said, would guarantee the foreign utilities' supplies of Gazprom fuel.

Much of Europe now burns natural gas to create electricity, and reserves of the fuel are essential for predictable power generation.

The monopoly's announcement comes amid moves by the Russian state to consolidate and renationalize a variety of industries, including the oil and gas sectors, which have alarmed many in the West.

The Organization for Cooperation and Development (OECD) noted in a report released Monday that the trend has been marked by acquisitions 'by the state itself or state-controlled companies, particularly ... Gazprom.'

The OECD's economic survey of Russia railed against the gas giant's 'seemingly insatiable appetite' for noncore assets.

The government, the international economic group wrote, has a 'poor track record' in managing companies and a tendency toward 'inefficiency and slow growth.'

Gazprom CEO Alexei Miller this spring said the company planned to make electricity generation a core business and the monopoly is planning to take a controlling stake in Russia's second-largest electricity generator, Mosenergo, with a 2.1 billion-dollar (1.6 billion euros) purchase in March.

Gazprom has been tapped to supply capital as Russia tries to pump 80 billion US dollars over the next five years into its ageing Soviet-era electricity infrastructure.

Miller visited Spain this autumn to discuss joint ventures in electricity with Madrid-based utility Endesa.

The Russian company has also announced ambitious plans recently to turn itself, the world's third-largest energy firm, into one of the world's top six firms of any stripe in the next few years.

Foreign acquisitions figure heavily in that strategy. The gas monopoly and Russian state-controlled oil producer Lukoil said earlier this month they were forming a joint venture to buy foreign oil assets.

While Ilyakhin said Gazpromenergo had yet to finalize its blueprints for foreign acquisitions, he added that the Russian firm had already received 'many offers' from foreign utilities hoping to count Gazprom among their owners and secure steady fuel supplies.