BP to sell its share of TNK-BP to Rosneft

NY Times story

"MOSCOW — BP’s board has approved an offer from the Russian state oil company, Rosneft, to buy most of BP’s business in Russia for cash and shares in Rosneft...For BP, the sale comes as the biggest step yet in Mr. Dudley’s “shrink to grow” strategy...selling older, less profitable fields and concentrating on exploration... The Russian holdings were the largest that fit the category for potential sales, comprising mostly aging oil fields in Siberia with little potential for new output.  Still, they account for about 25 percent of BP’s global production, or about as much oil as BP pumps in the United States, including Alaska...TNK-BP is the third-largest Russian oil company; if Rosneft buys out both BP and the handful of Russian billionaires who control the other half of TNK-BP, Rosneft will become the world’s largest publicly traded oil company, with production of about 4.5 million barrels a day. " 

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