MOSCOW (MRC) -- Russia is planning to privatize state-owned oil companies Rosneft and Bashneft, Russia's Finance Minister Anton Siluanov announced to local media late-December, reported TPS.
Russia's Finance Ministry is pushing for a privatization of big companies that include oil major Rosneft, Bashneft and state-owned Sberbank, according to Russia's state news agency TASS.
"The Russian government is preparing a privatization of stakes in big companies, which may replenish our budget resources and lower pressure on expenditures from the Reserve Fund. This involves Rosneft, Bashneft and a number of other companies," Siluanov said.
Russian President Vladimir Putin has previously said in a press conference that the government may privatize stakes in big state-owned companies including Rosneft and Aeroflot.
As MRC wrote previously, Russian corporation Rostec headed by Sergei Chemezov, is exploring the possibility of buying from Bashneft its petrochemical enterprise - Ufaorgsintez.
Bashneft is the parent company of the Bashkir fuel and energy complex. Bashneft Group includes three oil refineries - Ufaneftekhim, JSC Ufa Refinery, Novoil and petrochemical plant Ufaorgsintez. The installed capacity is 24.1 m tonnes/year of hydrocarbons. Ufaorgsintez is a major producer of phenol, acetone, low density polyethylene (LDPE) and polypropylene (PP). The company specializes in the production of oil in Bashkiria, Western Siberia and the Orenburg region. It supplies oil to the domestic market and for export.
Rosneft became Russia's largest publicly traded oil company in March 2013 after the USD55 billion takeover of TNK-BP, which was Russia’s third-largest oil producer at the time.
MRC