Lukoil Seeks approval To Buy BP Pipeline Stake
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Tuesday, 14 April 2009 |
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OAO Lukoil will seek Kazakh approval to buy BP Plc out of a venture
that owns part of the Caspian Pipeline Consortium by the end of the
month.
“We are in negotiations and they are almost done,” Lukoil’s billionaire Chief Executive Officer Vagit Alekperov told Bloomberg Television in an interview in Moscow yesterday. “We have received a concrete proposal from BP and we have confirmed our interest in buying the stake.”
BP wants to sell its share as it doesn’t want to invest in expanding the pipeline. “Now we need to tie up the formalities and receive permission from the Kazakh government,” Alekperov said. “I plan to be in Kazakhstan from April 25-30 where I’ll meet with the Kazakh president and I’ll raise that question in the hope of getting a positive answer.”
Chevron holds 50 percent of the Tengiz venture, while Exxon Mobil Corp. has 25 percent and Kazakhstan’s state-run KazMunaiGaz National Co. owns 20 percent. Lukoil holds 54 percent of the Lukarco venture and BP has 46 percent. Lukoil became a partner with BP in Lukarco, when BP bought Atlantic Ritchfield Co. in 2000.
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