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[Clark-W.Griswaldt]

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aturday, November 11, 2000

Gazprom Called on Carpet Over Itera

By Elizabeth LeBras
Staff Writer

A small firm called Itera was registered in
Jacksonville, Florida, to
distribute food and oil products in 1992.

Eight years later, Itera is Russia`s third-largest gas
producer, a
mammoth holding consisting of more than 120 companies
and
subsidiaries. Its headquarters are in Moscow, but its
founders and
ownership remain a mystery.

The breathtaking rise of the tiny company is taking
center stage
among foreign shareholders at gas giant Gazprom, the
world`s No.
1 gas producer. Those shareholders fear that lucrative
assets have
been stripped from Gazprom to bolster Itera, and they
are
demanding answers.

"In 2000, Itera intends to produce 20 billion cubic
meters of gas,
which is 1,170 percent higher than its production in
1998," foreign
shareholders wrote in a recent letter to Gazprom chief
executive
Rem Vyakhirev.

"But at the same time as Itera`s production is growing,
the volume
of Gazprom`s own production is falling.

"Existing information gives reason to believe that
Itera`s reserves
comprise assets acquired from Gazprom," said the
letter, which
was obtained by the Financial Times.

The shareholders, represented by Gazprom board member
Boris
Fyodorov, are hoping that some light will be shed on
the gas
giant`s relationship with Itera at a Gazprom board
meeting
scheduled for the end of November.

The government is also taking a closer look at Itera, a
move that
could help shareholders learn the truth. The Audit
Chamber,
parliament`s budgetary watchdog, is investigating
Gazprom`s
export transactions with Itera as part of a larger
audit of the gas
giant`s books.

Additionally, the European Bank for Reconstruction and
Development is demanding that Gazprom clarify its
relationship
with Itera before it approves a $250 million loan.

But in a country infamous for secretive backroom
dealings, front
companies and nontransparent ownership structures, any
answers
may be a long time in coming.

The sketchy path that led Itera into natural gas
bewilders investors
and observers alike.

Two years after its founding, Itera revamped itself
into a natural
gas supplier and teamed up for the first time with
Gazprom,
according to Itera officials. The company`s initial
joint project was
to distribute gas from Turkmenistan to a number of
countries
throughout the former Soviet Union.

In 1998, the company expanded its operations into gas
production. In collaboration with Gazprom, Itera began
developing deposits of natural gas and gas condensate
on the
territory of the Yamal-Nenets Autonomous District, just
north of
the Tyumen region.

Last year Itera was the primary natural gas supplier
for Ukraine,
Armenia, Belarus, Georgia, Latvia, Lithuania, Moldavia
and
Estonia, and it sold more than 50 billion cubic meters
of natural
gas.

An Itera representative said that production and
delivery of natural
gas accounts for 80 percent of the company`s business.

And its gas activities appear to just keep growing.

Under an agreement signed by Turkmenistan and Gazprom
on
Dec. 17, 1999, Itera is now charged with shipping 20
billion cubic
meters of Turkmen gas a year to Uzbekistan, Kazakhstan
and
Russia.

With many of the former Soviet republics covered, Itera
is
focusing on local subsidiary Intera-Rus to boost
domestic
deliveries of natural gas.

The ownership structure of Itera remains a secret,
although a
number of analysts have suggested that Itera is run by
representatives of Gazprom`s management or their close
relatives.

Major Gazprom stakes are split between the government
with 38
percent and foreigners with about 20 percent. The
remainder is
broken up between smaller Russian investors.

Describing its relationship with Gazprom, an Itera
representative
said in an interview that Itera perceives Gazprom as
its "strategic
partner."

"It cannot be otherwise, as far as Gazprom owns the
main gas
pipelines and one of Itera`s most important activities
is the delivery
of `blue fuel,`" said the official, who spoke on
condition of
anonymity.

Gennady Krasovsky, an oil and gas analyst at the Nikoil
brokerage, said the mere fact that Itera has access to
Gazprom`s
pipelines confirms that the two companies have a close
relationship.

"Gazprom takes some of Itera`s transport expenses on
its own
account," Krasovsky said.

"Russian oil companies have no access to Gazprom
pipelines, but
Itera has the right to pump its gas through them," said
Krasovsky.

It`s impossible for a company to operate in the Russian
gas
business without the help of Gazprom, he said.

Independent gas producers, however, will soon be
granted access
to Gazprom`s pipelines. Taking another step to curb
Gazprom`s
gas monopoly, the government published a resolution on
Nov. 8
that allocates at least 15 percent of pipeline capacity
to
independent producers.

Asked how Itera has become the key supplier to gas
markets in
the former Soviet Union, the Itera representative said
Itera entered
those markets after Gazprom was forced to cut off its
deliveries on
account of chronic nonpayments. The arrangement allows
Gazprom to serve its domestic consumers and fulfill
export
contracts for deliveries to Europe, the official said.

Konstantin Reznikov, an oil and gas analyst for Alfa
Bank, said
Gazprom appears to have shifted CIS markets to Itera in
order to
concentrate on delivering gas to domestic consumers.
Itera, being
a private company, has no liabilities like Gazprom`s
obligation to
deliver cheap gas to domestic consumers, Reznikov said.

"Itera offered to do this job for some compensation,"
he said.

Reznikov said the compensation was provided to Itera in
the form
of rights to Gazprom`s gas fields.

A representative at Dragon Capital, a Kiev-based
investment
bank, said that Itera has greater success than Gazprom
in exacting
payments from Ukrainian customers for gas.

In late October, the Ukrainian government reached an
agreement
with Itera to allow the gas company to export
electricity to
Moldova as payment for its debts to Itera.

The Dragon Capital official, who asked not to be named,
said that
the bank would "prefer to see these payments made in a
more
transparent way," namely with more cash payments.

United Financial Group noted in a recent report that
the
government is behaving more like a concerned Gazprom
shareholder and has started to demand that Gazprom
raise its
standards of corporate governance.

In a clear indication of the government`s support for
greater
transparency at Gazprom, it insisted at a board meeting
in June
that the gas company hold shareholders meetings at
least once a
month.

Furthermore, resolutions passed at a Gazprom board
meeting Oct.
27 showed that the government was growing increasingly
critical
toward Gazprom`s management. A particularly striking
victory for
shareholders was a resolution that forbade Gazprom from
transferring its assets or diluting its holding in its
subsidiaries
without the board`s prior approval.

Itera has acquired five gas fields in the Yamalo-Nenets
region
alone that formerly belonged to Gazprom. Total deposits
in the gas
fields f which include Gubkinksy, Vostochno-Tarkosale,
Novo-Urengoysky, Vostochno-Urengoysky and Vinrayahinsky
f
are estimated to exceed 1.5 trillion cubic meters.

Gas analysts said the resolution was an obvious
reference to Itera
and applauded the clampdown on Gazprom management.

"This is a much closer level of supervision of the
company`s
management by the board than would normally be expected
and
suggests f at the very least f that the board of the
company does
not have complete faith in the management`s judgment,"
UFG said
in a research note.

To the disappointment of shareholders, however, the
Gazprom
board did not agree to carry out an investigation of
past asset
transfers.

Itera is not the only Gazprom-affiliated organization
that has been
accused of asset stealing. A gas pipe construction
company,
Stroytransgaz, receives large contracts from Gazprom
and
acquired a 4.8 percent stake in Gazprom for only $2.5
million.

The Federal Securities Commission is planning to
investigate the
relationship between Stroytransgaz and Gazprom,
according to
Vedomosti.

At Itera, transparency will be a must if the company
wants to
continue to expand, observers said.

The Itera representative said the company is
contemplating an
initial public offering on Western markets f a move
that would
require the disclosure of the company`s ownership
structure.

Reznikov said Itera will sooner or later have to float
paper on
foreign markets in order to continue financing its
operations.

"Itera currently receives loans only from domestic
Russian banks,
particularly banks associated with Gazprom like
Gazprombank,"
he said.

But until then, investors and gas experts could just be
left
scratching their heads about the link between Gazprom
and the
rapidly growing Itera.