Ukraine on Monday opened its gas transit infrastructure to potential Western investors, but kept the door firmly shut on its key supplier-turned-antagonist, Russia's Gazprom.
By signing into law a bill allowing foreign companies to buy equity stakes in the country's outdated gas network — a vital corridor through which Europe receives one fifth of its gas — Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko hopes to guarantee Ukraine's lucrative position on Russia's gas export route and see off the challenge of South Stream pipeline, which would bypass Ukraine.
But analysts doubt that foreign energy majors will rush to get involved.European and U.S. companies will be permitted to buy up to 49 percent of shares in a newly created company that will operate the system, according to a document published on the official website of Ukraine's parliament. The Ukrainian government will keep a majority stake.
The law envisages that foreign investors in the gas network will be chosen by open tender, but the Verkhovna Rada, the country's parliament, will still have the last word in the choice of participants. Russia's Gazprom will not be one of them.
INC News, 08/09/2014
No comments:
Post a Comment