A source told Vedomosti that when the directors came to discuss a loan for Gazprom to buy Yugansk, Mr. Gref, presidential chief of staff Dmitry Medvedev and Gazprom CEO Alexei Miller retired for a meeting. An hour later they returned and asked for a postponement.
Mr. Gref, according to the source, expressed misgivings that after buying Yuganskneftegaz, Gazprom could be showered with legal claims from Yukos shareholders and for that reason the government should give the monopoly some guarantees. Besides, the minister was worried that Gazprom, in an effort to make funds available to purchase Yugansk, had cut back capital outlays by nearly 100 billion rubles ($1 = 28.01 rubles) and is planning to borrow billions of dollars from international banks.
A number of top-ranking officials secretly back the minister. A source in the presidential administration believes that functionaries on the Gazprom board heeded Mr. Gref because "they fear assuming responsibility" and first want to get the go-ahead for the deal from the government.
But analysts do not doubt that the official green light will be given. It is very unlikely that Gazprom would have acted at cross-purposes with the government and the Kremlin, says Renaissance Capital analyst Ron Smith. If a cabinet meeting approves Gazprom's investment program for 2005, which includes buying Yugansk, that will mean the green light for the monopoly, he said.
