Rosneft, the Russian state-owned oil company, was last night closing in on control of BP’s joint venture in the country.
Igor Sechin, Rosneft’s chief executive and Russia’s most powerful energy official, was understood to be in London yesterday for talks with BP, which put its stake in TNK-BP up for sale in June.
Reports suggested that under a deal that would see Rosneft take control of TNK-BP, BP could acquire a stake of more than 10 per cent in Rosneft.
An agreement struck in Moscow on Tuesday had seen four billionaires who own the other half agree to sell their stake to Rosneft for $28 billion (£17bn).
BP had invited bids for its stake by this morning. Rosneft is widely expected eventually to secure overall control of TNK-BP, which would create the world’s largest publicly traded oil group with more than four million barrels per day in production.
