European Commission Approves BP-Rosneft Deal

According to the European Commission, it has approved a deal between UK oil and gas giant British Petroleum (BP) and Russia’s state-run oil company Rosneft to divide the assets of their German-based joint venture Ruhr Oel GmbH (ROG). In mid-January 2016, the partners signed a legally binding agreement on dividing the joint venture.

BRUSSELS (Sputnik) — In June 2015, Rosneft and BP, which own Ruhr Oel on a parity basis, agreed on the main terms for reorganizing this joint venture. There are plans to divide stakes in four refineries and the attendant infrastructure in Germany.

The European Commission decided that the planned acquisition will not entail any competition risks. In late December 2015, Germany’s anti-monopoly watchdog agency Bundeskartellamt approved the deal.

The Rosneft-BP joint venture owns stakes in the following German refineries – Gelsenkirchen (100 percent), Bayernoil (25 percent), MiRO (24 percent) and PCK Raffinerie GmbH (37.5 percent), which, respectively, process 12.8 million, 11 million, 14.9 million and 11 million metric tons of crude oil annually.

The venture also owns stakes in five oil pipeline branches and oil terminals in the North, Baltic, Mediterranean and Adriatic seas. Rosneft is set to double its stakes in Bayernoil and MiRO (to 25 and 24 percent, respectively).

Its 35.4 percent stake in PCK Raffinerie will reach 54.17 percent. The company now owns 18.75 percent of it via ROG and another 16.67 percent which it directly purchased from Total in late 2015.

For its part, BP will completely own Gelsenkirchen and the solvent manufacturer DHC Solvent Chemie.