MOSCOW, June 20 (RIA Novosti) - Rosneft, a Russian state-run oil company, said Tuesday it would buy a 51% stake in Udmurtneft [RTS: UDMN] from Chinese company Sinopec.
"Rosneft is set to use the option to acquire 51% of shares in Udmurtneft from Sinopec, which has reached an agreement with TNK-BP [RTS: TNBP], the owner of a 96.9% stake in Udmurtneft, on buying the assets," the company said.
The Sinopec petroleum and chemical corporation will finance the deal for the oil producer in the Volga-region republic of Udmurtia, which will then be repaid from the new asset's earnings.
Rosneft and Sinopec senior managers said the deal was an important stage in the development of their partnership and strategic cooperation with Chinese industrial corporations in general.
"This will help implement Sinopec's strategy to obtain access to international markets, including the production of oil and natural gas in Russia," the companies said in a release.
Russian-British joint venture TNK-BP and Sinopec agreed earlier Tuesday on the sale of Udmurtneft to Sinopec and exchanged letters confirming the commercial terms of the deal, which have been approved by the Federal Anti-Monopoly Service.
The watchdog allowed 10 Russian and foreign firms to bid for a controlling interest in Udmurtneft.
The list included Gazprom Neft, which was renamed from Sibneft in May; Russneft; and Kazakhstan's KazMunaiGaz; along with other firms including Austria's OMV and Hungary's MOL.
Udmurtneft, which has an annual oil production of some 6 million metric tons (120,500 bbl/d), is currently developing 26 oil fields in the region. The company has charter capital of 3.56 million rubles (about $130,000), divided into 2,671,549 ordinary and 890,517 preferred shares, each with a face value of 1 ruble (about $0.03).
