RusEnergy

01–16–2008 – RBC News – Rosneft, Russia’s leading oil company, said it had sold $3.534 billion (RUB 88.18bn) worth of assets to Gazprom Neft in December 2007, including 50 percent stakes in Tomskneft VNC and Strezhevsky Oil Refinery, Rosneft said in its US GAAP report for nine months of 2007. The assets were sold to Gazprom Neft as a single lot, and it was difficult to say how much Rosneft received for its stake in Tomskneft, Rosneft’s press office told RBC. The assets sold in December also include a number of smaller facilities in Western and Eastern Siberia. This means that Rosneft sold the Tomskneft stake cheaper than had been expected ($3.66bn). On December 27, Rosneft and Gazprom Neft announced the completion of the acquisition of a 50 percent stake in Tomskneft VNC by Gazprom Neft. Rosneft’s Neft Aktiv sold the stake to Gazprom Neft’s subsidiary, Gazpromneftfinance. The transaction value had not been disclosed. Rosneft purchased Tomskneft at a YUKOS bankruptcy auction in May 2007. On July 2, Rosneft announced that it had sold a 50 percent stake in Tomskneft to Vnesheconombank. On the same day, Rosneft purchased $3.4 billion (RUB 87.58bn) worth of YUKOS’s assets from Prana LLC. According to Rosneft’s investment memorandum, it received the same money for the Tomskneft stake from Vnesheconombank. However, on July 12, Vnesheconombank Chairman Vladimir Dmitriyev said his bank had not acquired the 50 percent stake in Tomskneft. A source in Rosneft confirmed later that the bank “withdrew from the deal at a certain stage”, without further details. Rosneft’s net profit for the third quarter of last year climbed 80 percent compared with the same period of 2006, to $1.89 billion, in accordance with US GAAP standards, and 75.3 percent less than in the second quarter of 2007. Rosneft’s Q3 revenue was up 53.5 percent at $13.742 billion, and EBITDA jumped 82.8 percent to $4.023 billion.