Oman would consider selling its 7 percent stake in the Caspian Pipeline Consortium (CPC) if the Gulf Arab state receives a favorable offer, a finance ministry official said on Saturday. “If the offer is right, then why not? We have had a few interested parties but nobody put in a firm proposal,” the official, who declined to be named, told Reuters. Last month, Kazakhstan and Russia voiced interest in buying Oman's 7 percent stake in CPC should the Gulf state decide to sell out. Shareholders in CPC, the key export route for Kazakh crude, are struggling to come to terms on the pipeline's expansion, with Russia, the key host state, opposing the plan. Industry sources told Reuters last month that Oman, frustrated with delays, had decided to quit the project. “We are not really frustrated, as reported earlier, with the project but we may sell purely from a business point of view,” the official said. Russia has a 24 percent stake in CPC and Kazakhstan owns 19 percent. The rest belongs to private shareholders: Chevron, BP, Royal Dutch Shell, ExxonMobil, LUKOIL and Rosneft. Hungarian oil and gas group MOL has also set eyes on the pipeline linking the world's sixth-largest oil field Tengiz with the Black Sea, as Oman is selling its 7 percent interest in the Caspian Pipeline Consortium. Reports said that besides Russia and Kazakhstan, which have a pre-emptive right for the stake, MOL's name also came up as a potential buyer. The Hungarian press has not really picked up the almost month-long debate between Russia and Kazakhstan on the 1,510-km-long strategically important crude pipeline that connects the oil fields in Western Kazakhstan with the new Marine Terminal near the Russian city of Novorossiysk on the Black Sea. The pipeline's capacity currently stands at around 30 million metric tons of oil per annum and is expected to be doubled by 2012. Russia said that it considered making an offer to Oman should the Middle Eastern state decide to sell its 7 percent stake in CPC. Kazakhstan owns 19 percent in CPC and the rest belongs to private shareholders. If Moscow succeeds, it will have a blocking interest but not an absolute majority in CPC. Realizing the importance of CPC, Kazakhstan has prepared legislation that listed CPC among strategically important assets, which cannot be controlled by foreign entities, unless the government approves. This may be a precedent case for future regulation and thwart Russian attempts to obtain blocking stakes in Kazakh companies, since up till now Kazakhstan has never classified units with only a minority government stake as strategically important assets. Russia has been trying for some time to gain a bigger say by two additional seats in CPC's board of directors and have as much as seven representatives in the 22-strong management. The intention is understandable, since Russia has pre-emptive rights against the other owners if they choose to sell their holdings. The only other member having the same right is Kazakhstan. – With input from agencies __
