For this purpose, writes Commersant, Gazpromneft, which was sold by Gazprom to unassociated owners, will be renamed. The scheme of the Gazprom-Rosneft merger will not be changed. But Gazprom's newly established 100% subsidiary will take part in it instead of Gazprom itself. Its name has not been disclosed, but it will possibly soon be renamed Gazpromneft. So, nothing will have to be changed in the government documents on Gazprom's acquisition of Rosneft.
The merger will go through in January after Rosneft pays for the Yuganskneftegaz shares purchased from Baikal Finance Group (a 76.8% stake in Yukos's core production unit was sold at a tender for $9.34 billion). Nonetheless, Gazprom will claim to own the same 100% stake in Rosneft, as was previously the case, before its intention to acquire Yugansk. A source connected to Gazprom explained this as follows: "The value of Rosneft increased with the Yugansk assets, but decreased with the sum of the loans it will have to take out for purchasing it and it also due to the legal risks associated with owning this asset. Besides, Gazprom has not announced to this day the result of Rosneft valuation and the value of the package of its shares that are to be exchanged. I think that, as a result, an exchange will take place in the previously announced parameters. Besides, Gazprom will most likely insist that Rosneft borrow from it and from China National Petroleum Corporation to pay for Yugansk."
So, the situation around the Gazprom-Rosneft merger in December has been returned to where it was four months ago. Sergei Bogdanchikov, who left the post of the "old" Gazpromneft head on December 20, will again have to seek a compromise with Gazprom. So far, he has not been offered a post in the new Gazpromneft. However, sources in Gazprom say he may be appointed head of Gazpromneft-2. Meanwhile, the stakes in the game have tripled: the previous plans were to control an oil company with an annual output of 25 million tons, but now its output will be 75 million tons.
