Sibir's Tchigirinski Plans Projects With Shell, Rules Out Sale

By Eduard Gismatullin and Torrey Clark

Oct. 1 (Bloomberg) -- Chalva Tchigirinski, the Russian oil and construction billionaire, said his exploration company Sibir Energy Plc may expand projects with Royal Dutch Shell Plc.

Tchigirinski denied a Financial Times report today that said Shell poised to buy a holding in Sibir this year. ``We aren't selling a stake,'' the businessman said by phone.

Sibir may offer Shell an expanded partnership in the exploration of the Koltogorsky fields in western Siberia or fuel retail network expansion, he said.

``We have various talks with various companies on various issues,'' Tchigirinski said by phone today, declining to name the companies.

Shell, Europe's largest oil company, and Sibir each hold 50 percent in the Salym Petroleum Development joint venture in western Siberia. Tchigirinski together with partner Igor Kesaev owns 47 percent of Sibir, which relies on Salym for most of its oil extraction.

``We talk to Shell all the time, they're our partner in Salym and we have offices in the same building,'' Stuard Detmer, a board member at Sibir, said today by phone. ``It's not the case that a deal is imminent.''

Kirsten Smart, Adam Newton and Olga Gorodilina, London- based spokespeople at Shell, weren't immediately available for a comment. Christie Tang, from Shell's The Hague office, declined to comment.

To contact the reporter on this story: Eduard Gismatullin in London and Torrey Clark in Moscow at +44- egismatullin@bloomberg.net