Latvia approves plan to split gas utility Latvijas Gaze

Latvijas Gaze AS

11/02/2016 07:46

Feb 11 (Reuters) - Latvia's parliament approved on Thursday 
in a final vote a plan to split the country's vertically 
integrated national utility Latvijas Gaze  GZE1R.RI  by the end 
of December 2017 and to open its gas market for competition. 
    The move aims to end gas supply monopoly of Russia's Gazprom 
 GAZP.MM   GAZP.MM , which is Latvijas Gaze's biggest 
shareholder with 34 percent. 
    Other shareholders are the Marguerite Fund, the EU's 
infrastructure investment fund, with 28 percent; Germany's 
Uniper Ruhrgas with 18 percent and Latvian gas trader Itera 
Latvia with 16 percent.  
    Riga-listed Latvijas Gaze sells gas imported from Russia, 
operates the national gas grid and runs the only underground gas 
storage in the Baltic region. 
 
 (Reporting by Gederts Gelzis, editing by Anna Ringstrom) 
 ((Gederts.Gelzis@thomsonreuters.com;)) 
 
Keywords: LATVIA GAS/