State-owned oil giant Gazprom on Friday denied reports that it is in negotiations to buy a 24.9 percent stake in Austrian oil and gas firm OMV.
"It isn't true," Gazprom's deputy head Alexander Medvedev told journalists on the sidelines of the company's shareholders meeting Friday, Prime news agency reported.
Reuters on Thursday cited an unidentified source familiar with the talks as saying that Gazprom was in negotiations to buy Abu Dhabi fund IPIC's share in OMV.
On Thursday, Siegfried Wolf, chairman of the supervisory board of Austrian state holding company OIAG, likewise dismissed the report.
"That Gazprom wants to buy into OMV is news for us, we don't know anything about this," he said at a press conference following a board session during which he was elected chairman, Prime reported.
OIAG holds a 32 percent stake in OMV in a shareholder pact with International Petroleum Investment Company and manages any shareholding changes.
Gazprom on Tuesday finalized a deal with OMV to build the Austrian branch of its massive South Stream gas pipeline to Europe, despite objections from EU Energy Commissioner Guenther Oettinger, who considers the project in violation of EU energy legislation.
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