MOSCOW, August 2 (Itar-Tass) — The agreement on the establishment of a global strategic alliance between Russia’s oil company Rosneft and British Petroleum signed in January 2011 “is at present no less important than it was then,” Chairman of the Union of Oil and Gas Producers of Russia Yuri Shafranik stated in an exclusive interview with Itar-Tass.
The authoritative expert is convinced that “the alliance between the largest oil company in Russia and one of the world’s leading producers cannot but have political implications not only for the two countries, but also for global development in general.” Shafranik believes that Rosneft’s entry in the BP share capital is “very promising in terms of national interests.” “It can make the partnership even closer and mutually beneficial,” he said. At the same time, the Russian expert drew attention to such an important factor as the price of the package. In his opinion, it “should be acceptable, otherwise the partnership as a whole will not bring the potential long-term effect.”
According to earlier reports, BP CEO Robert Dudley said this week that one of the two main problems for the company is its position in Russia where negotiations on the sale of the British company’s stake in TNK-BP (50 percent) are underway. It was earlier announced that Rosneft intends to buy this package.
TNK-BP belongs on a parity basis (50 by 50) to BP and AAR consortium (one of the participants in which is Russian businessman Mikhail Fridman).
AAR filed with Britain’s court and the Stockholm Court of Arbitration a claim against BP, accusing it of violating the shareholder agreement. The reason for this was a deal between BP and Rosneft to develop oil fields in the Russian Arctic, concluded in early 2011.
On June 1, BP officially informed the partners about the possible sale of its stake in TNK-BP Group. The British company said it would sell all 50 percent of its shares. According to analysts, BP intends to get for them up to 30 billion US dollars.
Rosneft – is the leader of the Russian oil industry and one of the largest public oil and gas companies in the world. The main activities of Rosneft are exploration and production of oil and natural gas, production of petroleum products and petrochemicals and marketing of these products. Rosneft conducts oil and gas exploration and production activities on the Sakhalin Island, in Siberia, Timan-Pechora field and southern Russia, including Chechnya. It owns and operates two refineries. The refinery in Tuapse, on the Black Sea, focuses on refining high-gravity oil from western Siberia. Another plant in Komsomolsk-on-Amur is the easternmost refinery in Russia. The company is included in the list of Russia’s strategic enterprises. Its main shareholder (75.16 percent of shares) is Rosneftegaz that is 100 percent state-owned.