OREANDA-NEWS. Belarus' OAO Grodno Azot is looking for an investor to contribute to a project focused on building a new nitrogen production facility. One of the principle conditions is that the investor must have significant resources of natural gas.

Belarusian First Deputy Prime Minister Vladimir Semashko made a statement to this effect on December 17 at a session of the Belarusian government, when the participants reviewed the progress in Belarus-Russia integration projects in the industrial sector.

Belarus' largest producer of nitrogen fertilizers OAO Grodno Azot depends on supplies of imported natural gas. One of the principle conditions is that the investor is supposed to fully satisfy OAO Grodno Azot's demand for natural gas.

In the meantime, Russia's largest state-controlled oil company Rosneft may be interested in purchasing a controlling stake in OAO Grodno Azot, a source in the Belarusian government told.

In early September, Rosneft's CEO Igor Sechin held talks with CEO of Belarusian state-owned Belneftekhim, Igor Zhilin. They discussed the option of supplying natural gas to Grodno Azot instead of its current provider, Russian gas giant Gazprom. Grodno Azot consumes about 2 billion cubic meters of gas annually.

Grodno Azot was set up in 1963 and transformed into an open joint-stock company in 2002. The Belarusian government holds a 99.97% stake.

Grodno Azot is Belarus' main producer of liquid ammonia, nitrogen fertilizers, methanol, caprolactam, biodiesel fuel.