Transaction of Novatek with Chinese investors delayed

As the Kommersant has got to know, Novatek didn’t manage to close the transaction with the Chinese Silk Road Fund for the sale of 9.9% in the Yamal LNG project in time. The deal is essential to the fate of a single LNG project in the Russian Arctic, and Moscow is taking all the necessary steps. Today, the Parliament Building will approve the deal at the meeting of the Commission on Foreign Investment, and yesterday it considered the intergovernmental agreement on it. Sources of the Kommersant explain the delay with questions from China. Problems can also be in the Beijing's desire to change the terms of the transaction, and that the Russian side didn’t take into account all the details of the local bureaucratic games.

Today the Russian Government Commission on Foreign Investment will consider and approve the transaction on sale of 9.9% in the Yamal LNG project to the Chinese Silk Road Fund by Novatek, several sources familiar with the situation told the Kommersant. The Parliament Building confirmed that the issue is in the agenda of the Commission. Also, according to the Kommersant’s information, yesterday the Government at closed session considered and approved in principle the intergovernmental agreement with China on this transaction. According to Kommersant’s interlocutors, the text of the agreement was sent to the Chinese side only this week, so its signing will take some time.