Igor Artemyev refuted the media reports that appeared Friday to the effect that FAS had submitted its positive conclusion on the transaction to the government.
"As I said before, a decision will be taken in the middle of April," he noted.
In his words, NOVATEK's reorganization will be completed in mid-April.
Only after that, the Federal Anti-Monopoly Service will decide on the possible sale of a blocking share package in NOVATEK to the French oil and gas company Total, the FAS chief said.
The FAS press service also declared Friday that FAS had issued no documents approving the deal.
The official statement of the FAS press service received by RIA Novosti reads as follows: "In view of some media reports that the Federal Anti-Monopoly Service approves the Total-NOVATEK transaction, FAS declares that it has issued no documents approving the transaction. Officially, there was neither positive nor negative decision on the said application."
The protocol on Total's purchase of a 25% plus one share stake in NOVATEK's authorized capital was signed in September 2004 within the framework of the endorsed strategy for the Russian company's development as regards the consolidation of its assets and implementation of projects in the sphere of oil and gas processing. Under the protocol, the controlling share package in NOVATEK was to be held by Russian companies.
NOVATEK, which is Russia's largest independent gas producer, was founded in 1994. The company's authorized capital amounts to 3,036,306 ordinary shares with a nominal value of 100 rubles each.
At present, NOVATEK's largest shareholders are ZAO Levit (46.56 % of the shares), the SWGI offshore company from Cyprus (40.65 %), the NP Regional Fund for Yamal's Development (5.61 %) and the OOO Company for Direct Investments of the Fuel and Energy Complex (3.74%).
The company's largest hydrocarbon deposits (in terms of reserves) are the Yurkharovskoye oil and gas field, the East-Tarkosalinskoye field and the Khancheiskoye field in the Yamal-Nenets autonomous region (Western Siberia).
