Russian agency opposes Gazprom merger with coal giant

0 Comments | AFP, February, 2007

MOSCOW (AFP) — Russian federal anti-monopoly service head Igor Artemyev expressed sharp disapproval Wednesday of a proposed merger between state gas monopoly Gazprom and coal giant Siberian Coal Energy Company (SUEC), Russian news agencies reported.

"I am personally against it. I have a negative attitude toward this deal," RIA Novosti quoted Artemyev as saying about the proposed merger of the world's largest gas producer and a company that fills 30 percent of Russia's coal demand and 20 percent of the country's coal exports.

"It's entirely clear that... when Gazprom has a dominant position not only on the gas market, but on the coal market in Siberia, in the Urals and in the far east, it will control all electrical energy reform," Artemyev said.

"The...