MOSCOW (AFP) - The Russian state will maintain some restrictions on foreign ownership in gas giant Gazprom after the liberalisation of its shareholding structure, a top minister said.
Gazprom announced Tuesday that it would take over state oil company Rosneft to create a new Russian hydrocarbons behemoth that will be more than 50-percent controlled by the state.
It said at the same time that rules barring most foreigners from owning direct shares in Gazprom would be abolished and President Vladimir Putin publicly backed the changes.
"This does not mean that all restrictions will be lifted for residents and non-residents in the company's activities," Industry and Energy Minister Viktor Khristenko was quoted as saying by the ITAR-TASS news agency in the Kazakh capital Astana.
He did not specify which limits would remain.
Most foreign investors can own Gazprom stock only indirectly, through American Depositary Receipts, although Germany's Ruhrgas has a direct 6.4 percent stake.
According to Russian law, not more than 20 percent of Gazprom can be owned by foreigners.
Gazprom is the world's largest gas producer with 20 percent of production, and owns nearly a quarter of the planet's known gas reserves.
Since Putin came to power in late 1999, the state has slowly clawed back control of the powerful company, which accounts for eight percent of Russian gross domestic product and was once dubbed a "state within a state."