Tyumen Says Gazprom Should Operate Pipeline For BP Led Kovykta Poject

The Tyumen Oil Company, Russia's third largest oil producer, has said that Gazprom should operate a planned seven billion dollar pipeline to ship natural gas from the BP run Kovykta project when it starts selling the fuel to China in four years.

BP, Europe's biggest company, owns 34.5 percent of Kovykta and Tyumen owns 29.7 percent. The partners need Gazprom, which is controlled by the Russian government, to be involved in shipping the field's 1.8 trillion-cubic-meters reserves abroad, said Tyumen Chief Executive Officer Viktor Vekselberg.

“We need to set up a separate transport company, in which Gazprom should have a fifty one percent stake, otherwise it will not make any sense because gas exports are apparently going to continue being government regulated,” Vekselberg told a breakfast organized by the American Chamber of Commerce's Moscow branch.

The Siberian gas field holds enough fuel to supply Asia for five years. BP and ExxonMobil are among the international oil companies investing to develop Russian gas deposits so they can sell the fuel to China, the world's most populous nation, and other Asian buyers.

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&to=http://www.gazprom.ru/eng/default.htm' target=_blank>GAZPROM

&to=http://www.tnk.ru/mainpage_eng.asp?IDR=162&LANG=ENG' target=_blank>TNK

&to=http://www.bp.kz/index.asp ' target=_blank>BP