The Russian energy tycoon, Viktor Vekselberg, has hit out at state energy monopolies by claiming that private companies bring unique knowledge to the market.

He also outlined plans for TNK-BP in the wake of losing the massive Kovykta gas field to state gas monopoly Gazprom and his position on the state energy monopolies.

He said TNK-BP expects to invest more than $US 5 BLN this year alone, in new upstream and downstream projects but also expanding abroad.

“We see a clear policy developing in Russia's energy sector, with big state monopolies Gazprom and Rosneft on the one hand, and private companies such as TNK-BP on the other. We feel various forms of ownership should exist competing with each other to attract new technologies to develop more complicated oil and gas fields. Importantly, there must be a level playing field. As for our $US 3BLN of joint ventures with Gazprom, we are drawing up a list of potential projects. One of the first is our underdeveloped Rospan gas field subsidiary in Russia's far North,” stated Viktor Vekselberg.