MOSCOW, April 8 (Reuters) - Ivan Sechin, son of Rosneft's chief executive Igor Sechin, has joined the state oilcompany to work on offshore projects, the Kommersant newspaperquoted sources as saying on Tuesday.
It said Ivan Sechin, born in 1989, had joined last month asdeputy head of a division involved in oil and gas explorationoffshore and had previously worked at Gazprombank, Russia'sthird largest lender by assets.
Kommersant said company sources had told it they saw noconflict of interests in the younger Sechin joining his father,one of President Vladimir Putin's closest allies, at Rosneft.
In a written response to Reuters questions, Rosneftvice-president Yuri Kalinin confirmed the younger Sechin wasworking at one of Rosneft's production units in a non-managementrole, and this reflected his "qualifications and experience."
He said company regulations stipulated that relatives shouldnot work together at the company's headquarters.
"At the same time we welcome relatives working in thecompany's production units. We think that such productiondynasties help provide consistency, the transfer of professionalexperience, and strengthen loyalty to the company," Kalininsaid. (Reporting by Katya Golubkova; Editing by Timothy Heritage,Greg Mahlich)