GAZPROM, THE state-controlled Russian gas group, is threatening to pull out of a deal to buy a stake in a vast east Siberian gas field from TNK-BP, BP’s Russian joint venture, saying the stake is likely to be worthless.

The threat reflects the financial pressure on Gazprom, which is being forced to focus on its essential investments in relatively short-term projects.

Gazprom agreed to buy TNK-BP’s 63 per cent stake in Kovykta, a field in eastern Russia, in June last year as part of a settlement to resolve a dispute over the licence for the field.

It agreed to pay $700 million (€520 million) to $900 million for the stake, and also signed a memorandum of understanding with BP to set up a $3 billion joint venture to develop projects inside and outside Russia.

The deal was seen as an important step for BP in securing its presence in Russia, the country with the world’s biggest hydrocarbon reserves.

The UK company has faced persistent problems in Russia, and this year waged a bitter fight over TNK-BP with the Alfa-Access-Renova group of Russian tycoons, its partners in the venture.

Kovykta is estimated to hold more gas than the entire proved reserves of Canada or Kazakhstan, and is a potentially important source of gas supply for Asian countries such as China and South Korea in the second half of the next decade.

However, Gazprom believes that its value is highly uncertain, given the long-term nature of the development, and also thinks the licence for the field is likely to be taken away from the TNK-BP-led consortium that runs it.

Yuri Trutnev, Russia’s natural resources minister, yesterday suggested the field was not producing enough gas to meet the consortium’s licence obligations – the same issue that was at the heart of last year’s dispute.

The credit crunch and the fall in oil prices are forcing Gazprom to focus on its highest priority: the development of gas production and infrastructure in Russia with projects that will show results relatively quickly. – (Financial Times service)