Report: CEO: Russia must mull Rosneft sale to strategic investor

ST. PETERSBURG, Jun 15 (PRIME) -- The Russian government must consider various privatization scenarios of oil major Rosneft, including its sale to a strategic investor, CEO Igor Sechin told Italian newspaper Il Sole 24 ore in an interview published June 15.

“Bearing in mind the situation on the global oil market and the existence of sanctions, the current quotations barely reflect (Rosneft’s) fundamental price. Nevertheless, we must take into account budget issues as well. We assume that in these difficult conditions we must consider a range of options including attraction of a strategic investor,” Sechin said.

Rosneft will be privatized in 2016 with more than a 50% likelihood, Economic Development Minister Alexei Ulyukayev told reporters earlier in June. A representative of the ministry said that both the sale of the whole stake to a strategic investor or placement of part of shares at an exchange are possible.

Sechin separately said that competition on the international energy market will become tougher and Russia will have to face it.

“In the future, we will face a hard competitive struggle in order to retain the share on the key traditional markets and to raise the share on new energy markets,” Sechin.

The CEO said that Russian oil projects are ones the most cost efficient in the world, and short-term price falls do not affect them.

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