Gazprom To Merge With Rosneft

Gazprom, natural gas biggest producer in Russia, said on Thursday it was still intending to merge with state-owned oil company Rosneft to allow the share trade liberalization following Rosneft's acquisition of Yuganskneftegaz.

The government wants to merge Rosneft and Gazprom in order to get a larger stake in Gazprom to over 50 percent from the current 39 percent.

Boosting the state's stake in Gazprom to over 50 percent is a pre-requisite for the opening of trading in Gazprom's shares to foreign investors, who are currently allowed to buy only Western proxy shares.