Chinese firm buys Rosneft stake

Glencore and the Qatar Investment Authority (QIA) will sell a 14.16% stake in Rosneft to CEFC China Energy Company, the Swiss-based oil marketer announced on Friday.

“Following the transaction, Glencore and QIA would retain an economic interest in Rosneft shares commensurate with their original equity investment announced in December 2016, which amounts to approximately 0.5% and 4.7% respectively,” Glencore said in a statement, noting that CEFC would pay “a premium of approximately 16% to the 30 day volume weighted average price of Rosneft shares on 8 September 2017.”

Rumors of the deal, which is widely seen as a sign of deepening co-operation between Russia and China, the world’s premier energy exporter and the number-one global energy consumer, were first published by Reuters in mid-August. The purchase also comes as Rosneft has sought to rapidly expand its international presence in recent months, in the face of European and North American sanctions imposed on the company after Russia’s takeover of Crimea in 2014.

Also on Friday, Russia’s semi-official news agency Tass reported that Rosneft plans to invest RUB 140 billion (USD 2.45 billion) in Arctic and Far East exploration by 2022, on the back of major recent upstream investments in the Kurdistan Region of Iraq.

“The 2022 programme includes drilling of up to ten search wells and an array of prospecting surveys at licensed sites,” Rosneft documents cited in the report said.

In separate releases, Rosneft announced that it would build Arctic ice breakers and shuttle tankers together with Zvezda Shipbuilding Complex and Samsung Heavy Industries, as well as oil spill response equipment with Finland’s Lamor Corporation.