Azerbaijan, Baku, July 23 / Trend, E. Ismayilov /
Within several years, Georgia intends to place the State Oil and Gas Corporation's minority shareholding (to 15-20 percent) on the London Stock Exchange, the Georgian Energy Minister Alexander Khetaguri said today in Baku.
He said in this case the question is not about privatization of the main gas pipeline, but only on the placement of the Oil and Gas Corporation's minority shareholding.
"We have never thought to privatize the pipeline, and we will never privatize the pipeline. The question was to place the Oil and Gas Corporation's minority shareholding on the London Stock Exchange. In the next two or three years we will place a minority interest to 15 - 20 percent," Khetaguri said.
Earlier, the Georgian Government withdrew gas pipeline from the list of strategic targets. This process envisages the privatization of the equity. Supporters of this process stress that the privatization of the equity of any company will improve the efficiency of the pipeline.
SOCAR (State Oil Company of Azerbaijan), which has extensive experience in the exploitation of main pipelines, shows great interest in the possible acquisition of shares of the main gas pipeline in Georgia. In particular, today SOCAR exports its gas to Georgia. In addition, through SOCAR Energy Georgia the Company actively works in this country on the gas distribution market, where it owns about 30 networks. Significant investments are made in the development of these networks.
Earlier, the Kazakh Company KazMunaiGaz and Russia's Gazprom have also expressed interest in acquiring shareholding in the pipeline.