OAO Rosneft Chief Executive Igor Sechin said Friday that the
deal to acquire competitor TNK-BP was "irreversible" and that a
committee was being formed to work on integrating the two companies.
Speaking at an extraordinary shareholders meeting, Mr. Sechin
offered little insight into how the new company--set to become the
world's largest publicly-traded oil producer--will look like after the
completion of the takeover, slated for the first half of next year.
State-controlled Rosneft in October said it had agreed to buy TNK-BP, Russia's
No. 3 oil producer, from BP PLC (BP) and its partners, the AAR
consortium of tycoons. The Russian government and Rosneft's board have
already approved the acquisition of BP's 50% stake.