State-controlled OAO Gazprom's (GAZP.RS) investment program for next year could be as low as 720 billion rubles ($26.2 billion), a top government official said Thursday, contradicting an announcement by the company's own chief executive.
The comment made by First Deputy Prime Minister Igor Shuvalov seems to contradict Gazprom's own chief executive Alexei Miller, who Thursday morning said the company's investment program would stay at an earlier announced RUB920 billion.
A spokesman for Shuvalov said a final decision on Gazprom's investment program, which is subject to approval from the government, depends on several factors such as the price of oil and weather conditions.
"It's too early to say what the total investment program will be," the spokesman said. "But everything depends on the oil price."
A Gazprom spokesman confirmed that next year's capital spending would reach RUB920 billion and said he didn't know why Shuvalov had given a different figure.