LONDON, September 24 (Itar-Tass) — The British Petroleum multinational oil and gas company is considering the possibility of purchasing a 12.5-percent stake in Russia’s oil company Rosneft, the business community of the City of London reported on Monday.

“BP is selling its stake in the joint venture - the corporation TNK-BP and is ready to invest part of the proceeds in projects in Russia,” a staff member of the International Petroleum Exchange of London told Itar-Tass.

To date, BP already owns 1.3 percent of Rosneft shares. “However, it wants to increase its stake in the capital of the Russian company in order to obtain the status of a strategic partner,” the source said.

According to reports, BP assesses its stake in TNK-BP at 25 billion US dollars. It is this part of the money, according to the BP management plans, that will be used for the group’s new projects in Russia.