Russia minister may intervene in BP deal

IRKUTSK, Russia (Reuters) - Russia's Natural Resources Ministry will intervene if BP's venture TNK-BP fails to close a deal to sell control of the Siberian Kovykta gas field to Russia's Gazprom by the year's end, the minister said.

TNK-BP agreed to sell control in the giant deposit to gas export monopoly Gazprom last year but completion of the deal was delayed by the protracted conflict between the British energy major and its Russia-connected partners in TNK-BP.

"If the situation is not solved in the near future, we will have to interfere in this story again," the minister, Yuri Trutnev, told reporters on Tuesday on the sidelines of the Baikal Economic Forum in Siberian town of Irkutsk.

"Before the end of the year either the licence holder or we have to make a decision," he added.

TNK-BP, Gazprom and BP are involved in talks over the creation of a joint venture on the basis of Kovykta.

Gazprom agreed to buy control last summer after the natural resources ministry accused TNK-BP of breaching licence agreements and threatened to withdraw the licence.

TNK-BP has said it could not produce the 9 billion cubic metres of gas per year from the field as required by the license.

Gazprom's deputy chief executive Alexander Medvedev said in an interview at the Reuters Russia Investment Summit on Monday that his company hoped to complete the talks over Kovykta by the end of the year. To read the story click on.

(Reporting by Vladimir Soldatkin, writing by Tanya Mosolova, editing by Anthony Barker)