TNK-BP Russian shareholders to stick to 50/50 JV format

The AAR consortium of Russian shareholders in TNK-BP will agree only to a parity 50/50 joint venture format with state-run oil major Rosneft, if it buys BP’s stake in the joint venture, RIA Novosti reports quoting a Russian shareholder.

BP currently holds a 50 percent stake in the venture, along with AAR, a group of four Russian billionaires. BP said last week it wanted to sell its stake, with market participants estimating the value of the stake as high as $32 billion. Rosneft, Russia's largest oil company, announced on Tuesday it would commence talks with BP to purchase the British oil major’s stake in TNK-BP.

The emergence of a new shareholder in TNK-BP on a 50/50 basis will not complicate the JV’s current operations, the unnamed shareholder said.

“I do not see big problems, if BP decides to sell its stake to Rosneft. They have much synergy with Rosneft,” he said, adding no other format but a parity basis was possible.

The Russian TNK-BP shareholder also said there was nothing bad about Rosneft joining TNK-BP and this deal would only boost the JV’s capitalization.