MOSCOW, June 3. /TASS/. Gazprom discourages agency agreement of Rosneft on natural gas export to Europe, Russian Energy Minister Alexander Novak said on Friday.
"Gazprom does not encourage operation and execution of such agreements," Novak said.
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This is the official position of the Russian gas holding, the minister added.
Izvestiya newspaper reported earlier Gazprom and Rosneft were working on an agency agreement for gas export to Europe, making possible for Rosneft to supply gas to BP. However, Gazprom’s export arm Gazprom Export said such information is contrary to facts.
Two Russian independent gas producers Novatek and Rosneft approached the government earlier with a request to authorize pipeline gas export to Europe. Rosneft expects the Energy Ministry will support the company’s request for gas export via a single export channel, company’s vice president Mikhail Leontiev told TASS earlier. Rosneft wants to have an opportunity of selling its gas to consumers that differ from Gazprom’s clients and ready to buy gas from Rosneft, he added.