Rosneft to invest in Georgia

On 29 December 2014 the Russian state energy company Rosneft announced the purchase by its subsidiary RN-Foreign Projects of a 49% stake in Petrocas Energy Ltd., a holding company registered in Cyprus, belonging to David Iakobashvili (a Russian businessman who was born in Tbilisi and has Swedish nationality). By so doing, Rosneft received shares in the terminal for petroleum products in the Georgian port of Poti (capacity c. 1.9 million tonnes per year), which Petrocas owns, as well as a network of 140 Gulf service stations in Georgia, among other items. The value of the transaction has not been disclosed.

The Georgian government, including the economy and energy ministers, has stated that they cannot influence the business decisions of private entities such as Petrocas. However, the opposition United National Movement (Mikheil Saakashvili’s party), has attacked the government for allowing the transaction, and indicated that it could be blocked by invoking the Law on Occupied Territories (Rosneft operates in Abkhazia).