RIGA - Russian investors are still willing to buy a controlling stake in Ventspils Nafta if the current owners come up with an acceptable offer, Russian Ambassador Viktor Kalyuzhny said last week.
This, in turn, would facilitate the renewal of pipeline exports to Latvia, he added.
"If Latvian shareholders, including representatives of the state, choose a united and clear position on the sell-off of the Ventspils oil complex, and it is acceptable to the Russian partners, then of course it will be possible to discuss at the same time shipping Russian oil in the Ventspils direction," Kalyuzhny told the Russian language daily Telegraf.
Russia halted pipeline exports via Latvia in the beginning of 2003 due to what it claimed were Ventspils' high handling costs and Moscow's priority to fill Russia's new export terminal in Primorsk on the Gulf of Finland.
Ventspils oil officials, however, insisted that their prices were the most competitive on the market and that Russia's decision to halt deliveries was purely political.
Kalyuzhny said that an important condition for raising the efficiency of Russian oil export is cutting transportation costs at various departure terminals. "This is possible if the controlling stake in Ventspils Nafta is acquired," he said.
The ambassador also mentioned the lack of transparency in Ventspils Nafta's operations 's long a criticism of Latvian government officials as well 's and the need to rectify it. "The requirement about the transparency of Ventspils Nafta shareholders is also important in making a decision" to invest, he said.
Kalyuzhny said that Ventspils Nafta shareholders, privately held companies and the state, are bickering among each other, while Russia boosts the capacity of its own terminals each year.
Latvia's new government, which came to power in December 2004, has said it was interested in selling its 38.62 percent stake together with Ventspils Nafta's private investors since, in the words of Economy Minister Krisjanis Karins, the government "has no business in the oil transit" business. Karins proposed to private investors that the two sides work together to find a strategic investor, but private investors, mainly Venstspils-based businessmen, refused.
The government has reportedly not given up hope of reaching a consensus with LNT, and Karins is planning to inform the government on further options in mid-June.
"I also hope that, upon Russian investors entering Latvia, there will not be slogans like 'Russians buy Ventspils!'" said Kalyuzhny.
Currently, Ventspils Nafta's largest private shareholder, Latvijas Naftas Tranzits, holds nearly 49 percent with the right to buy another 9 percent through a repo deal.
