(hydrocarbonprocessing) -- BP said on Friday that 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 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 UK-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.
BP’s commitment to Russia follows a meeting Tuesday involving Mr. Dudley, BP chairman Carl Henric Svanberg, Rosneft CEO 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. 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, as MRC reported last 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.
MRC