Baku, Azerbaijan, Dec.10
By Emil Ismayilov - Trend:
The SOCAR (State Oil Company of Azerbaijan) waits to receive a response regarding the results of studies of the issue of the acquisition of the 66 percent stake in the Greek gas transmission operator DESFA by the State Oil Company from the Directorate of European Commission for Competition until February 25, 2015, the head of SOCAR Rovnag Abdullayev told reporters Dec.8.
He said that SOCAR provides the necessary support to the Directorate for Competition on this issue.
Abdullayev said once again that the issue of privatization of DESFA is more necessary for Greece and the EU than for SOCAR, which considers this process as one of the investment projects.
"This is a good infrastructure project in terms of obtaining long-term incomes, but there are many other short-term projects as well, in which the State Oil Company can invest," said Abdullayev. "We are working with them (the EC Directorate), answer all the necessary questions and expect to get a response till February 25."
On November 6, the European media reported that the EU antimonopoly authority started an inquiry into the upcoming acquisition of the Greek gas transmission operator DESFA by SOCAR. The European officials became afraid that the level of competition would decrease on the gas market in Greece.
SOCAR intends to buy two-thirds of the DESFA company for 400 million euros.
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Emil Ismayilov is Trend Agency's staff journalist, follow him on Twitter: @Emilsmail