Venezuelan Parliament Gives Red Light to Sale of Petromonagas Shares to Rosneft

Venezuela’s opposition-controlled parliament has approved an agreement in rejection of the sale of shares of the Petromonagas crude oil company to the Russian energy giant Rosneft, National Assembly member Elias Mata said.

MEXICO CITY (Sputnik) – The deal would be a constitutional violation because "several articles of the Constitution make clear that any sale that is owned by the Republic has to go through Parliament," Mata said on Thursday, as quoted by El Universal.

According to the deputy, the Venezuelan Energy and Petroleum Commission had been reviewing the issue for a year. Mata lamented that president of Venezuela’s state-owned Petroleos de Venezuela oil and gas company (PDVSA) Eulogio Del Pino had not consulted the National Assembly on the sale of Petromonagas shares.

Rosneft concluded the deal with PDVSA on the increase of Russian shares in the Petromonagas joint venture up to 40 percent last year. If the deal were to be approved by parliament, an additional 23.33 percent of Petromonagas shares would be sold to Rosneft for $500 million.