Russian press service Itar-TASS said both sides would discuss sale of the RD-180 rocket engine, a space booster whose sale to China would irritate the US government, according to Russian Deputy Prime Minister Dmitry Rogozin.
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It would also balance the near 20 per cent stake that London-based BP bought in 2013, a year before Putin stoked a separatist rebellion in Ukraine by annexing Crimea. China has provided Rosneft and other Russian energy companies with more than $US100 billion in loans and prepayments for supplies over the past decade, money that helped fund the acquisitions that turned the state-run company into the world’s largest publicly traded oil producer by output three years ago. The stock has gained more than 47 per cent this year. The focus so far has been on boosting oil and gas supplies to China, the region’s largest market and a pivotal financier for Rosneft, whose ability to tap worldwide capital markets is restricted by sanctions.
“A definitive agreement has been signed by IOC, OIL and BRPL to acquire 23.9 percent stake in Rosneft Oil Company in JSC Vankorneft, a firm created under the Russian Federation law, which owned licenses for Vankor and North Vankor Field”, IOC said in a statement.
ONGC’s overseas investment arm ONGC Videsh already holds 15 per cent stake in Vankorneft while Rosneft holds 85 per cent stake in the company, according to a statement issued by Oil India.
The deal, announced by Rosneft on Friday at the St Petersburg International Economic Forum, is valued at $2.02 billion, according to two officials from companies involved in sale, who asked not to be identified because the price isn’t public.
“With the closure of the Vankor deal, IOC’s equity oil portfolio will go up by 1.6 million tonnes per annum”, the statement said. “So Rosneft sale could wait until the next year, when oil will likely grow further”.
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Politically, Putin is looking to firm up his geopolitical position after conflicts in Ukraine and Syria estranged the USA and Europe and invited sanctions. Alexei Ulyukayev, Russian Economy Minister stated on Friday that the deal is expected to close the transaction this year.
