MOSCOW-Russian shareholders TNK-BP, the UK oil company's joint venture in Russia, said yesterday that they are interested in buying a 25 per cent stake in the company. TNK-BP, Russia's third-largest oil producer, is owned on 50-50 basis by BP and AAR, a consortium of Russian billionaire shareholders. The company has been mired in a lengthy dispute after AAR blocked BP's deal with another Russian oil company, Rosneft.
AAR said in a statement on yesterday that it would like to buy a half of BP's stake, or 25 per cent of the company, at what it described "a market price." Based on the oil firm's market valuation at Moscow-based MICEX exchange, a quarter share in TNK-BP is worth some US$9.7 billion.
The Russian market was already closed at the time of the announcement. BP announced on June 1 that it intended to sell some or all of its shares in TNK-BP and under the terms of their, both parties have 90 days to negotiate in good faith, AAR said.
AP