Russia to woo investors with bigger mineral licences

By Vladimir Soldatkin

MOSCOW, May 27 (Reuters) - Russia, which earned over $3 billion selling off its mineral resources last year, will group licences into larger blocks to attract cash-strapped investors in 2009, a government minister said on Wednesday.

Natural Resources Minister Yuri Trutnev said the global credit crunch had dampened interest among investors in untapped oil, gas and metals deposits and that Russia should take steps to attract companies.

"If we sell a bigger block and combine it with several smaller fields in one lot, this lot will be more attractive for investors," Trutnev told reporters.

Russia, the world's largest gas producer and second-largest oil exporter, last year pulled in record proceeds of 90 billion roubles from the sale of the rights to develop its natural resouces.

The lion's share, 56 billion roubles, came from auctioning off parts of the Verkhnekamskoye potassium-magnesium salts deposit in the Ural mountains. Fertiliser firms Silvinit (SILV.MM), Acron (AKRN.MM) and Eurochem won the auctions.

Billionaire Alisher Usmanov's iron and steel firm Metalloinvest also won the rights to the enormous Udokan copper field in eastern Siberia. [ID:nLA452086]

Several huge, undeveloped mineral fields remain under state control, including the Titov and Trebs oilfields in the Timan-Pechora oil region in northwest Russia as well as Sukhoi Log, the country's largest gold deposit.

Trutnev did not say which deposits the state expected to sell this year.

Analysts have said the financial crisis is not the only factor behind the decrease in appetite for Russia's natural resources.

Foreign investors have also been scared off by war in Georgia last August, the declining value of the rouble and government interference in the running of some major companies.

The slump in commodities prices has also had a negative impact on the ability of investors to pay for access to Russia's reserves. (Editing by Robin Paxton)