In a complex manoeuvre, the government - which already holds 39.4% and controls the board - is bidding for 10.7% of Gazprom.

Rosneftegaz will take out loans to acquire the stake, and the government will pay back the money by later selling Rosneftegaz shares in an initial public offering. Following the transactions, the Russian state will hold majority stakes in both Gazprom and the state oil company OAO Rosneft, all of whose shares were transferred to Rosneftegaz, the economy ministry said in a statement.

The government originally set up Rosneftegaz in order to allow Gazprom to take over Rosneft, a plan that stalled after Rosneft raised its value by buying OAO Yuganksneftegaz, Yukos's largest oil unit. The state had seized and sold the unit to cover the tax claims against Yukos.

Bloomberg reports that taking control of Gazprom is part of Putin's plan to deliver on a 2003 pledge to end the current 20% limit on foreign ownership Gazprom. Gazprom's board is scheduled to approve the stake sale tomorrow.

Meanwhile, several other news sources report that Gazprom says it is considering buying into Sakhalin gas projects, which have up until now been the preserve of Rosneft.

Gazprom vice-president Alexander Medvedev said the firm was about to close a swap deal with Royal Dutch/Shell, under which Gazprom would take 25% of the Shell-led Sakhalin-2 project in exchange for a stake in Gazprom’s West Siberian Zapolyarnoye field.

Gazprom is also thinking of bidding for the Sakhalin-3 licence and buying out Rosneft’s 20% stake in Sakhalin-1, Medvedev said.