Foreign bidders are heading the queue to buy a gas-fired power station being sold by EDF, the state-owned French utility.
Russian controlled Gazprom, the world's biggest gas business, is understood to be among the front runners to buy Sutton Bridge, a 819 megawatt station, in south-east Lincolnshire.
The deal would provide the Russian giant with a production base in Britain to complement its growing trading business.
Analysts feel it could be the prelude to a more aggressive move by Gazprom to consolidate its position in Britain and take advantage of reforms in the electricity market.
Gazprom has become a powerful political as well as business tool in the hands of the Kremlin and at one stage was seen as a potential bidder for Centrica, the British Gas parent.
It has also been seen as a bidder for the BP stake in the troubled TNK-BP oil and gas joint venture in Russia but Gazprom has firmly ruled out entering the fray.
The Government is wary about seeing Gazprom as a major force in the British market and has gone out of its way to court Norway as a more acceptable partner.l
Norway supplies around a quarter of Britain's oil and gas needs and will become more important as a result of a partnership agreement concluded last week.
EDF is selling the Lincolnshire plant as part of the disposal deal with the EU commissioners in Brussels.
China has also been taking a closer look at the British market in terms of nuclear power development and is being linked to the strategically placed Baglan Bay plant in South Wales.
telegraph.co.uk
Russian controlled Gazprom, the world's biggest gas business, is understood to be among the front runners to buy Sutton Bridge, a 819 megawatt station, in south-east Lincolnshire.
The deal would provide the Russian giant with a production base in Britain to complement its growing trading business.
Analysts feel it could be the prelude to a more aggressive move by Gazprom to consolidate its position in Britain and take advantage of reforms in the electricity market.
Gazprom has become a powerful political as well as business tool in the hands of the Kremlin and at one stage was seen as a potential bidder for Centrica, the British Gas parent.
It has also been seen as a bidder for the BP stake in the troubled TNK-BP oil and gas joint venture in Russia but Gazprom has firmly ruled out entering the fray.
The Government is wary about seeing Gazprom as a major force in the British market and has gone out of its way to court Norway as a more acceptable partner.l
Norway supplies around a quarter of Britain's oil and gas needs and will become more important as a result of a partnership agreement concluded last week.
EDF is selling the Lincolnshire plant as part of the disposal deal with the EU commissioners in Brussels.
China has also been taking a closer look at the British market in terms of nuclear power development and is being linked to the strategically placed Baglan Bay plant in South Wales.
telegraph.co.uk
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