OREANDA-NEWS. February 07, 2014. Igor Sechin commented on speculations regarding the sale of Alrosa’s (Bloomberg: ALRS:RU) gas assets to Rosneft.

He stated that Rosneft is not going to halt the acquisition of the gas assets; however it is currently negotiating the possibility of a price reduction with Alrosa. While we believe that tearing up the deal would have serious negative consequences for Alrosa, we do not think this scenario is possible.

Igor Sechin commented on rumors surrounding the sale of Alrosa’s gas assets to Rosneft. He stated that Rosneft is not going to halt the acquisition of the gas assets; however it is currently negotiating the possibility of a price reduction with Alrosa. While we believe that tearing up the deal would have serious negative consequences for Alrosa, we do not think this scenario is possible. We note that Kommersant has recently mentioned that the entire issue is over an approx. 3-5% overestimate of gas reserves.