Gazprom Acquires Stakes in 2 Gas and Oil Joint Ventures

Russia’s state-controlled natural gas giant OAO Gazprom said Wednesday it had obtained large stakes in two joint-venture projects to develop major gas and oil fields, the latest in its moves to become one of the world’s largest energy companies.

State oil company Rosneft is being folded into Gazprom. Rosneft recently acquired the main production subsidiary of the beleaguered oil giant Yukos. The Rosneft-Gazprom combination will create a state-run company with reserves six times those of Exxon Mobil Corp.

Gazprom said it bought a 49.95% stake in a joint venture to develop offshore fields in the Barents and Pechora seas from Rosneft and a 50% stake from a Rosneft subsidiary in a joint venture to develop the Shtokman gas and condensate field in the Barents Sea and the Prirazlomnoye oil field in the Pechora Sea.

Other partners in the joint ventures are Rosneft subsidiaries.

No financial terms were disclosed. The Kommersant daily newspaper reported it could be worth $1.7 billion.

The Yukos production subsidiary Yuganskneftegaz was sold at auction by the state this month to meet part of an enormous tax bill the government says Yukos owes. Days later, Rosneft acquired the shell company that bought the unit, meaning the unit eventually will be folded into the Gazprom-Rosneft giant.

The Yuganskneftegaz auction was widely criticized as being politically motivated. Yukos’ jailed former chief executive, Mikhail Khodorkovsky, had funded opposition parties.

Gazprom said Wednesday that consolidating its stakes in the offshore fields would help avoid potential legal risks -- a reference to lingering legal questions about Yuganskneftegaz’s sale and a U.S. Bankruptcy Court order that effectively barred Gazprom from participating in the auction.

Shtokman is one of the world’s largest natural gas fields -- estimated to have 3 trillion cubic meters (106 trillion cubic feet) of natural gas. It is situated in the deep waters of the Barents Sea, about 370 miles north of Russia’s Kola Peninsula.

Gazprom said the acquisitions were part of its strategy of business diversification