MOSCOW. Feb 6 (Interfax) - It is currently impossible to nationalize or privatize the entire oil and gas sector, Russian Prime Minister Vladimir Putin said at a meeting with political scientists on Monday.
"In my view, today it is impossible to privatize everything at once in this sector, let alone to nationalize everything," he said.
Putin was commenting on a proposal by one of his rivals in the presidential race, Communist Party leader Gennady Zyuganov, to nationalize a number of Russian enterprises.
"Let me remind you that at one time, Gazprom (RTS: GAZP) was almost completely privatized. And your humble servant returned control over Gazprom to the state. I think that I did the right thing," Putin said.
He did not rule out that at some point "we will move on, possibly, to Gazprom working in another mode. Perhaps we will need to do that," Putin said.
"We just need the economy to mature properly," he said.
Putin called attention to the fact that Gazprom currently sells gas at $75 per 1,000 cubic meters for citizens within Russia, whereas it sells gas at $400 per 1,000 cubic meters to Europe.
"This difference gives Gazprom the opportunity to a) develop itself and b) gasify the country," Putin said.
The government's objective is to collect taxes from these companies and to make them pay, he said.
"In this sense, even attracting foreign investors into our private companies in the oil and gas complex, curiously enough - for me it was also unexpected - yields results," Putin said.
Putin emphasized the necessity of teaching everyone to live by the law.
"It's bad when they (state-owned companies) don't perform their functions, when they break the law. That is, of course, their fault, but also the fault of the government, for being unable to ensure compliance with the law by everyone without exceptions," he said.
Putin said he considers it problematic that there is currently no demonopolization in Russia.
"We have the seven territories of the country divided up among oil and gas companies - they are monopolists in their areas. If we simply give them complete control, it will be very difficult to control them - prices will creep and so forth," Putin said with reference to proposals to privatize companies.
Keywords: Russia, Oil, Gas, Energy - Russia News - Russia
MOSCOW. Feb 6 (Interfax) - It is currently impossible to nationalize or privatize the entire oil and gas sector, Russian Prime Minister Vladimir Putin said at a meeting with political scientists on Monday.
"In my view, today it is impossible to privatize everything at once in this sector, let alone to nationalize everything," he said.
Putin was commenting on a proposal by one of his rivals in the presidential race, Communist Party leader Gennady Zyuganov, to nationalize a number of Russian enterprises.
"Let me remind you that at one time, Gazprom (RTS: GAZP) was almost completely privatized. And your humble servant returned control over Gazprom to the state. I think that I did the right thing," Putin said.
He did not rule out that at some point "we will move on, possibly, to Gazprom working in another mode. Perhaps we will need to do that," Putin said.
"We just need the economy to mature properly," he said.
Putin called attention to the fact that Gazprom currently sells gas at $75 per 1,000 cubic meters for citizens within Russia, whereas it sells gas at $400 per 1,000 cubic meters to Europe.
"This difference gives Gazprom the opportunity to a) develop itself and b) gasify the country," Putin said.
The government's objective is to collect taxes from these companies and to make them pay, he said.
"In this sense, even attracting foreign investors into our private companies in the oil and gas complex, curiously enough - for me it was also unexpected - yields results," Putin said.
Putin emphasized the necessity of teaching everyone to live by the law.
"It's bad when they (state-owned companies) don't perform their functions, when they break the law. That is, of course, their fault, but also the fault of the government, for being unable to ensure compliance with the law by everyone without exceptions," he said.
Putin said he considers it problematic that there is currently no demonopolization in Russia.
"We have the seven territories of the country divided up among oil and gas companies - they are monopolists in their areas. If we simply give them complete control, it will be very difficult to control them - prices will creep and so forth," Putin said with reference to proposals to privatize companies.