BP Chief Says Russia Shouldn't Sell Oil Giant Rosneft

Robert “Bob” Dudley, chief executive officer of BP with the Rosneft logo behind him. BP has a long-standing relationship with the Russian oil major and agrees with the government that it should not be sold under current economic conditions. (Photo by Andrey Rudakov/Bloomberg)

Former Rosneft business partner, BP, says now is definitely not the time to open more of Rosneft’s shares to the market.

“I don’t think we will see $100 oil for a while, so now it is probably not the right time to privatize Rosneft at these prices,” BP chief executive Bob Dudley reportedly said in London on Wednesday.

Dudley’s words are no surprise. Vladimir Putin has been saying the same thing about privatization for the past two years. With global asset prices in a general slump, particularly fossil fuel assets, Russia would not be commanding the highest price in a sale. Russia’s government is the biggest shareholder of Rosneft, which is Russia’s largest oil driller.

BP and Rosneft have had a spotty love affair.

In 2013, the two ended their relationship with a trio of Russian billionaires behind private oil firm TNK. Th TNK deal made BP one of Russia’s most important foreign investors.

It is unclear whether the Rosneft privatization plan will ultimately be a complete asset sale at some point. For now, it is just giving up 20% ownership to the market.

Rosneft was listed as one of Russia’s big, prized privatization offerings in 2014.