BP Share News (BP.)

Thursday proved a busy day for oil giant BP, which announced the completion of a number of transactions with Rosneft, Russia's largest oil company. In what BP described as an 'historic day', Rosneft has now paid BP $16.65bn for the latter's 50% stake in TNK-BP. BP then used $4.87bn of the cash consideration to purchase a 5.66% stake in Rosneft shares from Rosneftegaz, giving it a total 19.75% stake. BP Group Chief Executive Robert Dudley, who are now joined Rosneft's steering committe on TNK-BP integration, said: "This is a historic day for BP in Russia. BP has invested in Russia for more than 20 years and for a decade we have been Russia's largest foreign investor through our involvement with TNK-BP. We aim to continue that success with today's transaction, which increases our stake in Rosneft and gives us a wonderful opportunity to forge a new partnership with a great Russian oil company. "We hope to help Rosneft to deliver synergies through its acquisition of TNK-BP and to grow production and reserves through brownfield, greenfield and unconventional opportunities as Rosneft strengthens its position among the world's leading global energy companies."The companies will now work together to support the integration of Rosneft and TNK-BP, ensuring the implementation of world-leading business and technological approaches.BP added that together with Rosneft, it plans to identify possible opportunities for joint work on standalone projects, both in Russia and internationally.BP's share price dipped 0.32% to 446.55p by 13:31 Thursday. NR