Gazprom to buy oil stakes of Eni, Enel

Agence France-Presse

Gazprom will buy out the 20 percent stake owned by Eni in its oil unit Gazprom Neft for four billion dollars, the business daily Vedomosti reported.

It will also acquire assets owned by Eni and Enel from the broken-up Russian oil firm Yukos for $1.5 billion.

The newspaper quoted a source close to Gazprom as saying its directors had already approved both transactions, which will be announced during a visit by Italian Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi to Moscow on April 6-7.

Gazprom already has an option to buy the 20 percent stake in Gazprom Neft but Vedomosti said the price of $4 billion was almost double the estimated market price of $2.2 billion. The newspaper also said it was unclear why Gazprom had chosen to exercise the option now in the middle of a severe economic crisis.

It quoted an Eni source as saying the recommendation had come from Prime Minister Vladimir Putin himself but said Putin's spokesman denied any knowledge of such information.

Analysts at Alfa Bank said in a research note that until now there had been rumors in the market that Gazprom would simply let the option expire or renegotiate its terms.

"It is possible the deal is politically motivated," they said. "It is difficult to see how Gazprom would benefit from overpaying for these assets."

Vedomosti said that state bank Sberbank was prepared to lend Gazprom 2 billion euros. Gazprom Neft was formed in 2005 when Gazprom took over Sibneft.