UPDATE: Russia may sell 19.5% in Rosneft for no less than 500 bln rbl

(Adds comment in paragraph 4)

MOSCOW/NAIROBI, Dec 16 (PRIME) -- The Russian government is working on privatization of a 19.5% stake in oil major Rosneft in 2016, but the stake should not cost less than 500 billion rubles, Finance Minister Anton Siluanov told reporters Wednesday.

“We are ready and we are carrying out necessary actions to sell the 19.5% stake in Rosneft,” he said, adding that there are other options to raise money to the 2016 budget from privatization.

But the stake should not be sold cheap. “The price in the ruble equivalent should be equal to the price that we expected to receive in 2014, no less than 500 billion rubles,” he said.

Economic Development Minister Alexei Ulyukayev confirmed the need to privatize the stake, and as of today the price stand at about 580 billion rubles. But a decision to sell has not been coordinated in the government, he added.

In 2014, Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev signed a ruling to privatize the 19.5% stake in Rosneft at a price no lower than U.S. $7.55 per share, the price of Rosneft’s initial public offering in 2006. But Rosneft CEO Igor Sechin said the price should not be lower than the price of the previous privatization deal, or $8.12 per share.

(70.8295 rubles – U.S. $1)

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