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Russia's Rosneft has no plans for further privatization: company
AFP
MOSCOW
Petroleumworld.com 09 15 06
The vice president of state-controlled Russian oil group Rosneft said Thursday that he did not expect any further privatization of the company.
Rosneft executive Peter O'Brien was responding to hints from Kremlin officials that the state may sell far more than the 15-percent stake sold to investors in July.
"We have no plans to issue additional shares," O'Brien told journalists at an energy conference, adding however that this might happen "if a merger-acquisition situation arises," Russian news agency Interfax reported.
Asked whether the state would sell any more Rosneft shares, O'Brien replied: "Probably not."
There has been widespread speculation about further privatization of the oil company -- Russia's second-largest -- after a top Kremlin official was quoted last week saying that Rosneft may be completely privatized in several years.
The Russian government has retained about 85 percent of the company's shares following an initial public offering in July, which raised 10.4 billion dollars (8.2 billion euros), making it one of the world's largest.
Analysts have said that if Rosneft issued additional shares, it would not be able to sell them at the price of the July IPO, which was elevated by the participation of large strategic investors and major Russian businessmen.
O'Brien also said that Rosneft was planning to buy new assets, including increased oil refining capacity.
AFP 14 1621 GMT 09 06
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