Russia transfers 19.5 % of Rosneft to Glencore and to Qatar

The Russian Federation, which holds directly 50% of the [share] capital of Rosneft, has just transferred 19.5% of it to Glencore and to Qatar.

We do not know the exact percentages of shares transferred to each of these entities.

Rosneft is the first global oil company.

This decision comes at the time when the election of Donald Trump as US president generates the forecast that economic sanctions against Moscow would be lifted and when the agreement struck within OPEC to reduce oil production, should enable oil prices to gradually increase.

Furthermore, Rosneft had bought the oil company Bachneft just before this privatization. On this instance, the Committee of Investigation in Russia believes that the Minister of the Economy, Alexeï Oulioukaïev, had illegally conditioned his consent on the payment of 1.8 million euro. The minister has been placed under house arrest.

The stock market value of Rosneft has been priced at 55.02 billion euro. The shares transferred to Glencore and Qatar have been done so with a 2% reduction (i.e. 10.5 billion euro).

Qatar is already a majority shareholder of Glencore.

A payment of 10.5 billion will be made to the state enterprise Rosneftegaz, which should then, in turn, pay a part of this to the State. This would then be used to cover the deficit triggered by the European economic sanctions.

Untangling its economic policy cleanly from its foreign policy, Russia has thus sealed an alliance with Qatar against which it is fighting militarily in Syria.