Russian gas export monopoly Gazprom is preparing to invest 1 billion pounds ($1.48 billion) to become one of Britain's biggest fuel suppliers, The Sunday Times reported. State-run Gazprom is expected to lodge an offer this week for a network of 800 petrol stations and the Lindsey oil refinery at Killingholme, Lincolnshire, the paper said on its site www.business.timesonline.co.uk “The assets have been put up for sale by Total, the French oil group. It has hired JP Morgan, the investment bank, to sell its UK business, which employs 5,000 people. The business is expected to fetch more than 1 billion pounds.” Gazprom could not immediately be reached for comment. The prospect of the Kremlin-controlled energy giant owning key parts of the UK oil infrastructure could worry the government, the paper wrote. “When Gazprom was rumoured to be looking at a bid for Centrica, owner of British Gas, in 2006, ministers met to examine the ‘possible consequences resulting from any takeover of a major UK energy supplier',” it said. Gazprom is expected to bid for the Total assets through its oil arm, Gazprom Neft. Included in the Total sale is the 247-kilometre (154-mile) underground pipeline from Lindsey to the Buncefield fuel depot, which serves southeast England and Heathrow airport, the paper said. Much of the site was destroyed in an explosion in 2005 but there are plans to rebuild it. Other suitors include Essar and Valero, the American refining giant, and at least one private equity bidder.
