GORKI, October 13. /TASS/. Russian oil producer Bashneft is already functioning as Rosneft’s subsidiary from today, Chief Executive Officer of the oil major Igor Sechin said on Thursday.
"Integration has already occurred. Bashneft is the subsidiary of Rosneft. We fully control the situation," Sechin said.
The speed of acquisition and the price offered by Rosneft were the highest, Sechin said. "This was taken into consideration by the Prime Minister," he added.
The company transferred money to the budget ahead of time, the CEO said. "So we honored our commitments in this regard," he added.
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- BP CEO says Rosneft offered fair price for Bashneft
Bashneft shares
According to Sechin, Rosneft will consider buyout of shares from Bashneft shareholders later on.
"We will return to this issue later," Sechin said.
Rosneft has yet no plans to buy Bashkiria’s stake of 25% plus 1 share in Rosneft, he said.
"At this stage, we plan to focus on the management to ensure all production processes, safety and commitment to customers and suppliers. Production activity at this stage is a priority for us," Sechin said.
Rosneft privatization
Sechin went on to say that privatization of Rosneft will be held before the end of 2016.
"Rosneft is a liquid marketable asset. I am convinced that we will hold privatization of Rosneft before the end of the year," he said.
Antimonopoly law
Head of the Russian antimonopoly service Igor Artemyev said on Thursday that acquisition of shares in Bashneft by Rosneft did not run counter to antimonopoly laws,
"I can say at once this [acquisition of Bashneft shares by Rosneft] does not violate antimonopoly laws. Certainly, we will present relevant additional requirements to Rosneft and revise our citations issued earlier when buying TNK-BP," the official said.
The antimonopoly service is already aware the market share of Rosneft by the majority of oil products will not be higher than 50% prescribed by the law.
"The share of Rosneft on the oil products market after the deal will be above 35%; the company is already holding a dominating position and falls under FAS supervision. We are making a relevant market analysis by one or two components. We will do that in cooperation with Rosneft," Artemyev said.
The regulator will also check Bashneft’s region of presence to prevent Rosneft from having a dominating position on the retail sites market after privatization, he added.