PRESS: Sberbank, SOCAR create oil JV for Antipinsky refinery

MOSCOW, Jun 3 (PRIME) -- Russia’s top bank Sberbank and Azerbaijani state oil company SOCAR have created a joint venture Socar Energoresurs to supply oil to the Antipinsky refinery, Kommersant business daily reported on Monday quoting sources and the Unified State Register of Companies.

A source said that SOCAR wanted to start refining at the Antipinsky refinery before July, while another source said that the joint venture would buy oil from other large oil producers like Lukoil and Surgutneftegas.

The register says that Cyprus-registered Socar Russia Investment Ltd owns 60% in the joint venture, while Sberbank’s subsidiary SBK Komplekt holds 40%. Farid Dzhafarov, head of SOCAR’s Russian trader Socar Rus, is the CEO of the venture.

The Antipinsky refinery is under control of Sberbank, its largest creditor. A spokesperson for the bank told PRIME on May 30 that the bank was in talks to sell the asset to potential investors, including SOCAR. Azerbaijani company’s CEO Rovnag Abdullayev said that the company was considering the acquisition.

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