Chechen parliament wants local control of oil company
CHECHNYA, 21 March, Caucasus Times. – The Chechen parliament has decided to ask the Russian leadership to hand over 2 per cent of shares in Grozneftegaz [Groznyy oil and gas] to the Chechen republic in order for the latter to get control over the company. Fifty-one per cent of the shares in the company currently belongs to Rosneft [Russian oil] and 49 per cent to the Chechen government. Grozneftegaz produces about 2m t of oil a year.
It was also decided to ask for the handover of the Chechenneftekhimprom [Chechen oil and chemical industry] federal state unitary enterprise to Chechnya, with its subsequent transfer to Grozneftegaz’s statutory capital.
Commenting for journalists on the decision, the chairman of the Chechen People’s Assembly, Dukvakha Abdurakhmanov, said that the oil industry forms Chechnya’s budget, and therefore Rosneft’s work in Chechnya needs to be absolutely transparent.
He said that parliament together with the Russian leadership will solve problems connected with the establishment of control over the oil industry step-by-step. “If we have returned to Russia as a constituent part, then we need to have full rights in the economic area, too,” he said.
Abdurakhmanov also said that the republic is interested in an increase in incomes into its budget. According to him, Rosneft gains about R17b [613m dollars] from selling oil produced in Chechnya, while Chechnya’s budget gets no more than R30m [1m dollars].