British govt in veiled warning over Gazprom's Centrica ambitions
AFP
LONDON
Petroleumworld.com 02 13 06
Britain has given the clearest indication yet that state-owned
Russian gas giant Gazprom could be blocked from bidding for energy
group Centrica, according to a report here in The Observer on
Sunday.
Earlier this month, Interfax news agency had cited Alexander Shkuta,
the vice-president of Gazexport, Gazprom's export subsidiary,
as saying that the group was studying a plan to acquire Centrica,
which owns supplier British Gas.
"Any such proposal would be subject to very serious scrutiny,
not least on competition grounds," as well as national interest
objections, British energy minister Malcolm Wicks said in an interview
with the weekly newspaper.
"What is the UK's liberalised energy market about? It is
about, in large part, the importance of competition. It is not
about creating a big oligopoly."
Asked if there were grounds for barring Gazprom on national interest
grounds, Wickes was quoted as saying that "there might be".
"We would want to see whether there is a national interest
issue here," he added.
Britain's Department of Trade and Industry had already warned
on February 3 that any bid for Centrica would face "robust
scrutiny" by the regulatory authorities.
Gazprom has insisted that it has no concrete takeover plans, while
Centrica has denied receiving a takeover approach.
The Guardian newspaper recently reported that Gazprom was planning
an assault on the British market and aimed to provide 20 percent
of the country's gas within a decade.
Back in September, Centrica had dismissed speculation linking
the group to a potential takeover move by Gazprom, Malaysia's
Petronas or Gaz de France.
AFP
02/12/06
Copyright
© 2006 AFP. All rights reserved
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