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* State gives up direct control in Rosneft
* Indirectly it still owns over 50% -lawyer
* Can continue developing offshore, maintain dividends
By Daphne Psaledakis, Vladimir Soldatkin and Olesya
Astakhova
WASHINGTON/MOSCOW, June 7 (Reuters) - Russia lowering its
direct stake in top oil producer Rosneft will not
alter its exposure to U.S. sanctions, a U.S. Treasury spokesman
told Reuters.
State holding company Rosneftegaz has lowered its 50.33%
direct stake to 40.4% with subsidiary RN-NeftKapitalInvest
taking 9.6% and Rosneft unit RN-Capital 0.33%.
"The reported change in Rosneft's ownership does not alter
the basis for its inclusion on the SSI List," a U.S. Treasury
spokesman told Reuters.
"The change... does not alter the Treasury Department’s
concerns with respect to a broad range of Russian malign
activity globally, and we will continue to use our sanctions
authorities as appropriate in response to that activity."
The United States added Rosneft and other Russian entities
to its "Sectoral Sanctions Identifications List" (SSI List) in
2014 over Russia's role in the Ukraine crisis.
Inclusion in the list, overseen by the U.S. Treasury's
Office of Foreign Assets Control, means U.S. persons are barred
from engaging with those firms in mid-to-long term new debt or
providing assistance for deepwater, Arctic offshore or shale
projects.
International shareholders in Rosneft, headed by Igor
Sechin, a longstanding ally of Russian President Vladimir Putin,
include BP with a 19.75% stake and Qatar with 18.93%.
VAST OFFSHORE AND DIVIDENDS
As the three Rosneftegaz entities combined hold 50.33% of
Rosneft and give the state control of the company, Rosneft will
still be able to develop offshore blocks at home, said Yaroslav
Karnakov, a partner at law firm Nortia GKS.
Under Russian law, the only companies that can develop
Russia's vast offshore zones are those where the state has
direct or indirect control of more than 50% of the firm.
The finance ministry, which requires state companies to pay
no less than 50% of their net profit in dividends, also expects
Rosneft to stick to that obligation like "nothing has changed",
a source at the ministry said.
Rosneft told Reuters it planned to maintain its dividend
policy and to continue developing offshore fields.
The finance ministry did not reply to a request for a
comment.
(Reporting by Daphne Psaledakis in Washington, Olesya
Astakhova, Vladimir Soldatkin, Darya Korsunskaya and Rinat
Sagdiyev in Moscow; editing by Katya Golubkova and Jason Neely)
