Gazprom Postpones Sale of Bonds, Fitch Withdraws Credit Ratings on Debt

(Bloomberg) -- OAO Gazprom, Russia's natural-gas
monopoly, postponed a planned sale of bonds prompting Fitch
Ratings to withdraw assigned grades for the debt.

More than 50 companies from U.S. carmaker Chrysler to
Kohlberg Kravis Roberts & Co.'s Alliance Boots Plc postponed or
reworked debt sales since mid-June as investors shun riskier
assets amid concern that U.S. subprime mortgage-related losses
will spill into other parts of the debt markets.


Read more at Bloomberg Bonds News

Putin Visits Balkans to Bolster Russia's Energy Role in Southeast Europe

(Bloomberg) -- Russian President Vladimir Putin
meets with leaders of the 10 Balkan countries in Croatia today to
bolster Russia's presence in southeast Europe as the region
becomes a hub for energy transport.

Putin will use the summit to help Russian energy companies,
such as OAO Gazprom, set up new partnerships, buy assets and win
contracts in the region, the Russian presidency said in a
statement. Gazprom, Russia's gas-export monopoly, and Eni SpA,
announced yesterday a plan to build a new gas pipeline linking
Russia to the European Union across the Black Sea and through the
Balkans.


Read more at Bloomberg Energy News

BP's Russia unit surrenders gas field to Gazprom

(Reuters) - The sale is the culmination of years of pressure on BP's
Russian joint venture TNK-BP, which wanted to develop the huge
field to supply lucrative export markets in Asia.




Gas export monopoly Gazprom has consistently blocked these
plans, while regulators accused the Kovykta operating company,
Rusia Petroleum, of breaching its license terms.


Read more at Reuters.com Mergers News

Gazprom Gains BP Siberian Gas Field as Putin Ends Foreign Energy Control

(Bloomberg) -- OAO Gazprom took control of BP Plc's
stake in a Siberian deposit with enough natural gas to supply
Asia for five years, as President Vladimir Putin ends foreign
ownership of Russia's biggest energy assets.

Gazprom will buy the 63 percent stake in the Kovykta field
held by BP's Russian unit TNK-BP and half of the East Siberian
Gas Co. for between $700 million and $900 million, BP said in a
statement distributed via the Regulatory News Service today.
TNK-BP has the right to buy 25 percent of Kovykta later.


Read more at Bloomberg Energy News

BP May Agree to Sell Kovykta Field Stake to Gazprom, Russian Ministry Says

(Bloomberg) -- BP Plc may lose control of a
Siberian gas field big enough to supply Asia for five years, a
government official said, as Russian President Vladimir Putin
ends foreign ownership of the nation's biggest energy assets.

Dmitry Medvedev, chairman of OAO Gazprom and a first deputy
prime minister, will chair a meeting in the Kremlin later today
between the Russian gas-export monopoly and BP, a Kremlin
spokeswoman said by phone, declining to be identified. Both
companies declined to comment.


Read more at Bloomberg Energy News

Gazprom Chairman Calls BP Meeting in Kremlin to Discuss Kovykta Gas Field

(Bloomberg) -- OAO Gazprom Chairman Dmitry Medvedev
will hold a meeting in the Kremlin today with executives from BP
Plc, whose license to a Siberian field with more natural gas
than Canada is being threatened by the government.

Medvedev, who is also a first deputy prime minister, will
chair a meeting regarding BP, a Kremlin spokeswoman said by
phone, declining to elaborate.


Read more at Bloomberg Energy News