Crimea to start the sale of its shelf – Gazprom is the main contender

Crimean Chernomorneftegaz, which extracts about 2 billion cubic meters of gas per year, will be put up for auction. Gazprom has interested in the asset, which was decided to be nationalized by the Crimean parliament on Monday. This is not a great acquisition for the monopoly – it’s just 0.5% of additional production and reserves. But the former leadership of Chernomorneftegaz and experts think that the question is solved, in spite of a future auction.

The Vice Prime Minister of Crimea, Rustam Temirgaliev reported to the Kommersant that the Crimean Property Fund will start developing the terms of a contest on Chernomorneftegaz privatization as soon as possible. The asset will be sold at the auction, in which as Russian, as international companies will be able to participate. According to Temirgaliev, Gazprom has confirmed its interest in Chernomorneftegaz. But the monopoly declined to comment. Rosneft, which develops fields next to Chernomorneftegaz’s sites, and Novatek also declined to comment.