Russian Gazprom is interested in buying assets of British Petroleum (BP) in Azerbaijan.
According to RTR, the statement came from concern president Alexei Miller on 3 September in Baku. He said the company would be pleased to buy a part of the assets of BP, if they are put up for sale.
The television company notes that BP is the operator of the Baku-Tbilisi-Ceyhan pipeline, which is only one in the post-Soviet area pumping the Caspian oil from Azerbaijan through Georgia to the Turkish port of Ceyhan on the Mediterranean Sea. Each year, the pipeline pumps 35 million tons of oil - 1% of world production.
BP is also the operator of the Trans-Caspian gas pipeline, which supplies Azerbaijani gas via Georgia to Turkey's Erzurum. By using this pipeline, the EU plans to build Navucco, which aims to diversify gas supplies to EU countries.
"If the Russian side acquire BP’s assets, this would query the transportation of oil and gas from Azerbaijan to Europe", said another TV channel TVN24.
Earlier, Russian Deputy Prime Minister Igor Sechin said the government of Russia is ready to support possible deals to buy assets of BP, which is at a stalemate after a technological disaster in the Mexican Gulf.
1news.az