PM Nika Gilauri said that the government had no immediate plans to sell Georgia’s North-South Gas Pipeline, transmitting natural gas from Russia into Armenia and Georgia.

He, however, did not rule out possibility of “selling 5% or 10%” of the pipeline through initial public offering at London Stock Exchange “in four, three or maybe in two years.”

“It won’t happen this year or next year,” he said.

Gilauri said that even in case of such scenario, which he said would be positive for the management, the controlling stakes still would remain under the state control.

“The state will in no way give up the controlling stakes,” he said.

A new draft law tabled by lawmakers from the ruling party, envisages removing the North-South Gas Pipeline system from the list of state assets, which are banned from being privatized. The proposal has triggered speculation that the government was intending to sell the pipeline, which in the past has been eyed for number of times by Russia’s gas monopoly, Gazprom.