By Country / Russia
China Confirms Buying Rosneft Stake
July 19, 2006
July 19, 2006 -- China's state-owned China National Petroleum Corporation (CNPC) has confirmed it has bought $500 million worth of shares in Russian state-owned oil company Rosneft.
The Chinese firm said in a statement that the shares are part of Rosneft's multibillion-dollar initial public offering launched this week.
Last year, the CNPC bought Kazakhstan's biggest oil producer, PetroKazakhstan.
Rosneft shares began trading on the London Stock Exchange on July 19.
A British judge on July 18 rejected an attempt to block the flotation by the Russian oil company Yukos, which argued that most of the value of the Rosneft shares resulted from the sale of Yukos assets by the Russian government.
Rosneft hopes to make $10.4 billion through the offering.
(AP, AFP)