The following is an excerpt from rt.com | September 21, 2012 |
Russia’s state-run oil company Rosneft and UK’s BP are in talks on the sale of BP’s 50 percent stake in Russian-British joint venture TNK-BP. BP will reportedly use the funds to enter other Russian projects or increase its stake in Rosneft.
“A proposal was made on the possible acquisition of Rosneft shares and increasing BP’s stake. This proposal seems very interesting,” said Rosneft’s head Igor Sechin , adding that this was in line with the government’s plans to reduce its own stake in Rosneft.
According to Sechin BP is also considering investing the proceeds from the share sale into new Russian projects.
Sechin said the purchase of BP stakes in TNK-BP could be financed through market means. He said that “this will happen without loans and additional capitalization.”
AAR, the second shareholder in TNK-BP, however, has not offered its stake in the venture for sale, said Rosneft’s head.
Rosneft announced it was interested in buying into the world’s third largest oil producer in July 2012 after BP said it was considering selling its 50% share in TNK- BP, its venture with a consortium of Russian billionaires, the Alfa-Access-Renova (AAR).
Following the announcement AAR said it welcomed Rosneft ownership of TNK-BP on a parity basis, stating that this would increase TNK-BP’s capital.
However analysts say that any ownership of TNK-BP on a parity basis would only lead to corporate conflicts as was the case in the past.
To read more visit: rt.com
