[lbo-talk] Soros warns of Russian energy monopoly

[Steven L. Robinson]

George Soros says Russia’s OSA Rosneft IPO should not proceed 
Posted online: Thursday, July 06, 2006 at 0000 hours IST 
LONDON, JULY 5: Billionaire investor George Soros said OAO Rosneft, Russia’s state oil company, shouldn’t proceed with its initial public offering because it will legitimise the government’s attempts to dominate global energy supplies. 
‘‘It’s an issue that should not be allowed to proceed, but I think it will,’’ Soros said on Monday night at a London School of Economics public forum. The Russian ‘‘state is reasserting control,’’ he said. 
Russia, the world’s second-largest oil exporter after Saudi Arabia, seized OAO Yukos Oil Co assets in 2004 to build Rosneft. Now the country’s third-biggest oil company, Rosneft announced plans in June to raise as much as $11.6 billion in a stock offering expected this month. The deal is President Vladimir Putin’s attempt to put Rosneft in a league with Exxon Mobil Corp and BP Plc. 
Soros, the 75-year-old former financier who turned his attention to political and charitable activities, said Europe is too dependent on Russia for energy. ‘‘The dependence on Russian energy will become excessive’’ unless the EU adopts a more cohesive energy policy, Soros added. 
Russia is at odds with the EU over the Energy Charter, which would give foreign companies access to Russian pipelines. Russia is pushing through a law that will formalise the position of OAO Gazprom, the world’s largest natural gas producer, as the country’s gas export monopoly. Gazprom argues that the EU’s energy liberalisation is undermining the current system of long-term contracts. 
‘‘Russia is acting as a monopoly supplier,’’ Soros said, ‘‘and it is essential for Europe to have a coordinated energy policy to be able to stand up as equal partners in negotiating with Russia.’’ 
The Rosneft IPO ‘‘raises serious ethical and energy security issues,’’ Soros wrote in an April opinion piece in the Financial Times. He also criticised the US government’s decision last year to block Cnooc Ltd, China’s largest offshore oil producer, from acquiring Unocal Corp. 
—Bloomberg 
http://www.financialexpress.com/fe_full_story.php?content_id=132948
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