Rosneft, the Russian state-owned oil giant, has completed a $61bn deal to purchase TNK-BP, a joint venture the AAR consortium of Russian billionaires and the British oil company BP.
BP, which is selling its 50 per cent stake in TNK-BP, will receive $17bn in cash and a 12.84 per cent stake in Rosneft, enabling it to continue its 15-year involvement in the country's energy industry.
TNK-BP has been highly profitable for BP but its fields are mature and AAR has previously blocked the UK cpmpany's search for growth in Russia through closer ties with Rosneft.
Speaking to Russian television on Monday, Vladimir Putin, Russia's president, said Igor Sechin, Rosneft's chief executive, called the deal "a good big deal which is important not only for Russia's energy sector but for the entire Russian economy".
BP also plans to use part of the money accrued from the sale of Russia's third-largest oil producer to raise its stake in Rosneft to 19.75 per cent.
Speaking to Al Jazeera from London, Julian Lee of the Centre for Global Energy Studies, said the original TNK-BP "was extremely profitable" and that those profits made the tenuous relationship between BP and its Russian counterparts more bearable for the oil giant.
In another development, Rosneft said it had agreed to buy the other 50 per cent in the joint venture from AAR, for $28b, and that the deal was "entirely independent of the transaction with BP".
AAR confirmed that a memorandum of understanding has been signed, but added that it is still subject to other conditions.
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