CEO: Gazprom to cut participation in construction assets

ST. PETERSBURG, Jun 28 (PRIME) -- Russian gas giant Gazprom will reduce its participation in non-core construction assets, CEO Alexei Miller said in a news conference on Friday.

In March, RBC business daily reported that Gazprom’s construction subsidiary Gazstroiprom is negotiating acquisition of Gazprom’s largest contractors – Stroygazmontazh of Arkady Rotenberg and Stroitransneftegaz of Gennady Timchenko. After the deals, Gazpstoiprom, which already owns Stroigazconsulting, could become Gazprom’s largest contractor. The total amount of orders by Gazprom to the three companies made almost 1.5 trillion rubles in 2018, RBC said then.

“This is not core business for Gazprom. Even the interest that we currently have in it will be reduced soon. Gazprom is not creating a mega-contractor,” Miller said.

Changes have happened in the company’s management structure, and Gazprom now wants to create an efficient mechanism to control the investment and construction cycle of projects. Gazprom acknowledged that the practice of signing “turn-key” contracts during investment projects was a right thing to do, he said.

(63.0452 rubles – U.S. $1)

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