Rosneft withdraws complaint over Alrosa gas assets sale

Russian Federal Antimonopoly Service has stopped considering Rosneft’s complaint over Alrosa’s natural gas assets sale following the withdrawal of the complaint.

FAS Department for Control over Construction and Natural Resources head Oleg Korneev was quoted by Russian news agency Tass as saying: “Rosneft has filed an application to the Federal Antimonopoly Service of Russia to withdraw the complaint against the actions of Alrosa at an open auction. Thus consideration of the complaint was terminated.”

Rosneft withdrew the complaint as it was not taking part in the auction process any longer. It filed the complaint as it was not satisfied with the conditions of the auction.

Last week, FAS stated that it would probe into the sale of Alrosa’s natural assets after Rosneft filed a complaint.

Diamond producer Alrosa intends to sell its gas assets in Russia’s Yamalo-Nenets region in an auction scheduled for 19 February.

The assets are being auctioned at a starting price of RUB30bn ($520m).

Alrosa is a majority state-owned company.

In 2013, Rosneft tried to buy two gas companies and other assets from Alrosa for $1.3bn; however, this deal failed as the two firms didn’t agree on the price.

Novatek, a private gas producer in Russia, expressed interest in Alrosa’s gas assets.

Around two weeks ago, Rosneft stated that it was not interested in Alrosa’s gas assets but in the last week of December, it had demonstrated its interest.