The government of Dmitry Medvedev holds the key to BP's ambitions to sell out of TNK-BP, Deputy Prime Minister Arkady Dvorkovich said Tuesday.
"There is only one bid for that [stake] right now, as far as we heard," Dvorkovich said of BP's holding in TNK-BP. "In any case, Rosneft, if it will go for this transaction, will have to ask for instruction from the government. It cannot do otherwise," he told the Reuters Russia Investment Summit.
He also said Rosneft's possible purchase of a TNK-BP stake ran counter to its plans to cut state influence on the economy by putting a major producer under control of a state controlled company.
"The [domestic oil] market structure is both competitive and at the same time consolidated enough, at least for the market to be predictable," he said. "I do not see any specific arguments why … the government should stimulate further consolidation in the oil market."
(Reuters)
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