Gazprom is said to want more than 25% of OMV’s Norwegian North Sea holding company.
According to reports, it is being prevented from taking a larger stake by Norway.
Under an asset swap plan, Austrian energy company OMV is due to get a 24.9% stake in part one of Gazprom’s Siberian fields while the Russian company in turn gets a slice of OMV’s North Sea assets.
Gazprom Deputy Chief Executive Alexander Medvedev told the Reuters Russia Investment Summit:”We have decided over the OMV assets, these are production assets in the North Sea. We are now talking about when we can get an approval from the Norwegian authorities.
“There will be a meeting with the Norwegian ministry, will see why they are limiting participation in the holding company to 25 percent. We don’t want to face such a situation. Hopefully there will be no politics.@
Following the slide in oil prices, OMV has been keen to move away from its more expensive North Sea production toward lower-cost output from places such as Russia.
OMV was ready to swap a minority stake in either of the holding companies for its North Sea assets – one Norwegian and one British – for around 25 percent in two areas of the Achimov formation of Gazprom’s Urengoy field in Siberia.
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