RIA Novosti reported that Rosneft, Russia's largest state owned oil company, could sign a final binding agreement with the AAR consortium to buy its 50% stake in Russo British oil venture TNK BP as soon as December.
Mr Igor SechinCEO of Rosneft said that "I think we'll sign a binding agreement with AAR in December. Rosneft had agreed the outline of the deal to buy half the company for around USD 28 billion. The deal will not require approval by a Rosneft shareholders' meeting.
He said that it's not a buy back. Such a deal would have required the approval of a shareholders' meeting but this is series of deals, so it is not needed and there is no foundation for a buy back when asked if minority shareholders dissatisfied with the deal could offer their shares for sale.
Mr Sechin said that liberalization of access to Russia's shelf could mean compensation should be paid to Rosneft. When Rosneft held its IPO in London in 2006 the state took upon itself the responsibility to see the position of Rosneft shareholders was not impaired. If they make that decision attention must be paid to compensating shareholders
Currently, only companies with a minimum 50 percent state holding and at least five years experience of working in such areas have access to development of Russia's continental shelf. This rules out all but Gazprom and Rosneft in effect. The Natural Resources Ministry has repeatedly proposed expanding that list to include foreign competitors.
