MOSCOW (AFP) — Russian gas giant Gazprom aims to buy a controlling stake in British-Russian oil company TNK-BP by the end of this year, a newspaper reported on Thursday, quoting sources in both companies.
"It's already been decided that TNK-BP will be sold for 20 billion dollars (12.6 billion euros). The deal will be closed by the end of this year," the Vedomosti business daily quoted a source close to the Gazprom leadership as saying.
TNK-BP, co-owned by Britain's BP and a group of Russian investors, is the country's third largest energy company. Last year it produced 69 million tonnes of oil.
The company has had a troubled relationship with Russian authorities in recent months as its offices have been searched by police, one employee has been arrested for espionage and it has been embroiled in a dispute over visas.
On Thursday Vedomosti also quoted a source close to one of TNK-BP's co-owners as saying Gazprom planned to buy a controlling stake in the firm by year's end.
The latter source said Gazprom had offered at the start of this year to buy all the shares of TNK-BP's Russian shareholders and that BP had agreed to sell Gazprom a one-percent stake. A BP source described that claim as "rumours," the paper reported.
On Wednesday Vedomosti reported that TNK-BP had been hit with a tax demand of 161 million euros (257 million dollars). The company confirmed it had received a bill for the 2004-2005 tax year, but refused to say for how much.
Vedomosti quoted oil analyst Valery Nesterov as saying TNK-BP would find it hard to stand up to pressure for a sale, which he described as a "political decision, taken not even by the monopoly itself."
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