MOSCOW, September 25. /ITAR-TASS/. The Russian oil giant Rosneft is continuing work on purchasing Morgan Stanley’s oil trading unit, a Rosneft spokesman said on Thursday.

“The work on the deal is continuing,” the spokesman said, rejecting the media reports that the deal has failed.

Rosneft's purchase of Morgan Stanley oil trading unit

On September 4, the European Commission allowed Russian state-owned oil company Rosneft to purchase an oil trading unit of the US investment bank Morgan Stanley.

The European Commission concluded that “the proposed acquisition would not raise competition concerns” the EC said in a statement at the time.

Rosneft CEO said at the St. Petersburg international economic forum in May that the decision to acquire Morgan Stanley’s international oil trading business was part of the company’s strategy to create a focused world-class sales business.

“The process for the deal’s implementation is proceeding according to the agreed schedule and we are actively working with regulators to obtain the corresponding permissions,” Sechin said at the forum.

Morgan Stanley CEO James Gorman said in early June he expected the deal to be closed in the third quarter of 2014.

Under the deal, over 100 oil traders from Morgan Stanley’s offices in the UK, the US and Singapore comprising about a third of the investment bank’s trading business personnel, as well as about 180 managers from auxiliary units will become part of Rosneft.

The deal will not affect the business of Morgan Stanley’s clients in oil and petroleum product trade, its shareholding in TransMontaigne infrastructural company and Morgan Stanley’s trade in other commodities.