Putin calls for auction sales of strategic deposits

Moscow, July 10 (IANS/RIA Novosti) Russia's strategic deposits - including reserves of 70 million tonnes of oil and 50 billion cubic meters of natural gas - should be auctioned and not sold through tenders, President Vladimir Putin said Tuesday.

Putin told a meeting of the presidential commission on the fuel and energy sector that tenders have demonstrated poor efficiency and non-transparency, while auctions enable the government to earn more money.

Russia will continue its policy of selling off state energy assets, while taking into account the fuel and energy sector's contribution to the economy, he said.

The list of federal deposits was prepared by the Federal Agency for Natural Resources in August 2008 and consists of 985 overland deposits, including 163 hydrocarbon fields.

Russia's legislation lists deposits as having "federal or strategic significance" if they contain reserves of uranium, diamonds, especially pure quartz raw materials, nickel, beryllium, tantalum, lithium, niobium and platinum metals.

These deposits also include fields with recoverable reserves of over 70 million tonnes of oil, 50 billion cubic metes of natural gas, 50 tonnes of vein gold and 500,000 tonnes of copper.

Russia has substantially liberalised its policy in the fuel and energy sector where 25 percent of its assets are now held by foreign companies, Putin said.

--IANS/RIA Novosti

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