December 27, 2007	Thursday	Zilhaj 16, 1428

MOSCOW, Dec 26, 2007: A top Gazprom executive voiced opposition on Wednesday to foreign ownership of Russian energy reserves, saying it could deprive Russian consumers of much-needed natural gas, news agencies reported.

“We do not like foreign companies developing reserves,” Alexander Ananenkov, deputy chairman of state-owned Gazprom, was quoted by Interfax and RIA Novosti news agencies as saying during a visit to Novosibirsk.

His comments came as the Russian state continued to reassert control over the lucrative oil and gas sector, large parts of which were privatised and sold to foreign companies under former president Boris Yeltsin.

Ananenkov accused two projects with foreign participation -- the Sakhalin-1 and Sakhalin-2 fields in far eastern Russia -- of wanting to sell natural gas exclusively to international markets and therefore cheating Russian consumers.

“These producers, companies with foreign participation, do not want to do anything for consumers in the Russian Far East. They just want to sell gas to foreign countries,” Ananenkov said.

“A Russian consumer in the Far East cannot get the gas that he desperately needs,” he said. “We’ve come across this problem when the exploration licences are in the hands of foreign companies.” Gazprom spokesman Sergei Kupriyanov appeared to distance himself from Ananenkov’s comments, saying they were likely aimed only at the Sakhalin-1 and Sakhalin-2 projects. —AFP