BP PLC said Friday it aims to stay in Russia for decades to come and could use some of the proceeds from the potential sale of its stake in joint venture TNK-BP to increase its holding in Russian oil giant OAO Rosneft.
BP PLC said Friday it aims to stay in Russia for decades to come and
could use some of the proceeds from the potential sale of its stake in joint
venture TNK-BP to increase its holding in Russian oil giant OAO Rosneft.
BP said it wanted to continue its investments in
Russia
regardless of whether it sells its 50% stake in TNK-BP to Rosneft or to the
group of Soviet-born billionaires who own the other half of the joint venture.
The comments illustrate the U.K.-based energy company's desire to retain a
significant presence in oil-rich
Russia
,
despite a plan to exit the turbulent, yet highly profitable TNK-BP joint
venture. Completion of such a deal would also be an important achievement for
BP Chief Executive Bob Dudley, who saw a landmark 2011 pact with Rosneft to
explore for oil in
Russia
's
Arctic
thwarted by the TNK-BP partners.
TNK-BP is
Russia
's
third-largest producer of crude oil and has contributed a significant
proportion of BP's earnings since its creation in 2003. But the joint venture
has also been a source of great turmoil for the
U.K.
company because of long-standing disagreements with the billionaire partners
who control the other half of TNK-BP through the Alfa Access Renova consortium,
or
AAR
.
BP's commitment to
Russia
follows a meeting Tuesday involving Mr. Dudley, BP Chairman Carl Henric
Svanberg, Rosneft Chief Executive Igor Sechin and Russian President Vladimir
Putin.
"If we're successful at selling our stake, we'd be interested in buying a
share in Rosneft," a BP spokesman said. BP already owns 1.3% of Rosneft.
"We are pleased with BP's decision to reinvest part of the funds from the
sale of its stake in TNK-BP in new projects in
Russia
,
including in Rosneft shares," Mr. Sechin said earlier Friday, according to
a report by Russian news agency Interfax.
Mr. Sechin added that Rosneft could raise the cash to acquire BP's stake in
TNK-BP on capital markets.
Analysts have said that Rosneft could pay for the stake, which is worth an
estimated $25 billion, with a mix of its own shares and cash. Rosneft could pay
$10 billion to $15 billion in cash for BP's stake in the joint-venture and the
rest in shares, resulting in BP acquiring at least a 12.5% stake of Rosneft,
Russian newspaper Kommersant reported this week.
The BP spokesman said that talks on the sale of its share of TNK-BP are
continuing and it isn't definite that Rosneft will be the buyer or how a final
deal might look.
BP is also talking to
AAR
, which has expressed an
interest in acquiring some of BP's stake in the company. BP is obligated under
its agreement with
AAR
to negotiate in good faith
for a period of 90 days that started on July 18, after which it can sell to
whomever it chooses.
AAR
has some history with Rosneft. The consortium
blocked in the courts plans for a broad alliance between BP and Rosneft that
would have seen the two companies swap share holdings in each other and jointly
explore for oil in the
Arctic
.
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