* Rosneft calls a possible visa ban 'stupid, petty'
* Both CEOs of the two companies travel extensively
* Companies have vast overseas operations
By Vladimir Soldatkin and Olesya Astakhova
MOSCOW, March 14 (Reuters) - A possible ban on visas for theheads of Russia's two biggest energy firms, Rosneft and Gazprom, may hamper their internationalpartnerships but also harm their Western partners and push thetwo towards the East.
Rosneft, the world's largest listed oil company byproduction and reserves, and Gazprom, the top natural gasproducer, rely heavily on overseas markets for their sales.Their chief executives travel abroad frequently to promote theirbusinesses and strike deals with international partners.
Germany's Bild newspaper reported on Friday that visa bansthreatened by the European Union and the United States inretaliation for Russia's seizure of Ukraine's Crimea regionwould include Gazprom head Alexei Miller and Rosneft head IgorSechin.
European officials earlier said that the EU list includes120 to 130 names of senior Russian officials who could besubjected to travel bans and asset freezes.
Both Sechin and Miller worked together with RussianPresident Vladimir Putin in the 1990s and are the members ofwhat is seen as Putin's inner circle.
"This is stupid, petty and obvious sabotage of themselvesmost of all," Rosneft spokesman Mikhail Leontyev said, whenasked about the threat of EU visa sanctions. "I think this wouldprimarily affect Rosneft's business partners in the West in anextraordinary way."
Miller frequently travels to Europe and on Thursday was inBerlin to celebrate an anniversary of cooperation with Germanutility E.ON.
Sechin also travels frequently. Sources at Rosneft said hewould embark on a long tour to Asia next week with stops inIndia, Vietnam, South Korea and Japan.
Gazprom declined to comment, saying it would wait for anofficial statement, rather than rely on media speculation.
GLOBAL GIANTS
Disruptions in energy supplies from Russia as a result of avisa ban or other sanctions could lead to a jump in oil and gasprices, which could damage the fragile recovery of the Europeaneconomy.
Gazprom last year accounted for more than 15 percent ofglobal gas production and reserves and earned export revenues of$163 billion. It controls a third of Europe's gas market. Russia also supplies Europe with a quarter ofits oil, mainly from Rosneft.
"European business is closely tied up with Rosneft andGazprom," said Sergei Vakhrameyev, an analyst with Ankorinvestbrokerage in Moscow. "If (the visa ban report) is true, it wouldhamper partnerships between the companies."
Rosneft has agreements with the U.S.'s Exxon Mobil,Italy's ENI and Norway's Statoil on exploringoil and gas in Russia's Arctic. It holds a 50 percent stake infour Ruhr Oel refineries in Germany and 21 percent in Italianrefinery Saras. Last December, it agreed to buy much of MorganStanley's physical oil-trading business.
"Deals are in danger of being scrapped (in the case ofsanctions)," Vakhrameyev said.
Western companies with significant interests in Russianenergy stand to lose.
The UK's BP owns 19.75 percent of Rosneft. Shell is part of the Gazprom-led Sakhalin-2 project inRussia's Pacific, which includes Russia's sole liquefied naturalgas export plant.
Western banks hold most of the $90 billion in combined debtsof Rosneft and Gazprom.
ASIA PUSH
Disintegrating relations with the West could push Russia'senergy giants further to the East and encourage them to do morebusiness with China, which earlier this year overtook Germany asRussia's single largest oil buyer.
"It impedes (Rosneft/Gazprom's) ability to do some deals andis annoying and uncomfortable, but it isn't crippling," saidBruce Bower, an analyst at Moscow-based hedge fund Verno, aboutthe threat of visa sanctions.
He added that the move would accelerate Russia's tilt towardthe Far East, which started with the building of pipelines toChina.
Rosneft has been increasing oil exports to China and targetsdelivery of nearly 1 million barrels per day there, up fromaround 300,000 bpd last year. The rise in oil exports to Asiahas led to cuts in oil exports to Europe.
