BP’s chief executive Bob Dudley will recommend the proposed sale of his company’s stake in TNK-BP to Rosneft.

 

Bob Dudley will recommend BP accept a cash and share deal (15%) worth more than $26bn (£16bn) from Rosneft for its Russian business at a board meeting on Friday.

 

BP’s board will consider the offer of Rosneft today. No further details were provided. BP’s representative just mentioned that all possible variants will be considered.

 

The purchase of the BP stake by Rosneft will make it the biggest publicly listed oil company in the world – above Exxon – if as expected it also buys the other 50% of TNK-BP from a consortium of local oligarchs known as AAR for a reported $28bn.

 

At the moment 50% share in TNK-BP is owned by BP. Another 50% is owned by AAR (25% belong to Michail Fridman’s Alfa-group, 12.5% - to both Renova of Viktor Vekselberg and Access Industries of Leonard Blavatnik). However they are now considering the possibilities to sell their shares in TNK-BP to state-owned Rosneft.

 

The major Russian oil company is interested in buying both BP and AAR stakes in TNK-BP, but no official documents have been signed yet. Nevertheless, according to unofficial information, AAR and Rosneft have already signed a preliminary agreement to sell AAR stake in TNK-BP to Rosneft for $28bn (£17bn). BP is also on the point of selling its share to Rosneft.