BP announced that it has signed heads of terms to sell its 50% share in TNK-BP to Rosneft. Under the heads of terms, Rosneft has agreed in principle to buy BP’s share in TNK-BP.

The proposed transaction consists of two tranches: BP would sell its 50% shareholding in TNK-BP to Rosneft for $17.1 billion in cash and Rosneft shares representing a 12.84% stake in Rosneft; BP intends to use $4.8 billion of the cash consideration to acquire a further 5.66% stake in Rosneft from the Russian government. BP would acquire the Rosneft shares from the Russian government at a price of $8 per share.

Signing of the definitive agreements is conditional on the Russian government agreeing to the sale of the 5.66% stake in Rosneft and it is intended that the TNK-BP sale and this further investment in Rosneft would complete on the same day. Therefore, on completion of the proposed transaction, BP would acquire a total 18.5% stake in Rosneft and net $12.3 billion in cash. This would result in BP holding 19.75% of Rosneft stock, when aggregated with BP’s 1.25% current holding in Rosneft. At this level of ownership, BP expects to be able to account for its share of Rosneft’s earnings, production and reserves on an equity basis. In addition BP expects to have two seats on Rosneft’s nine person main board.

BP’s chairman Carl-Henric Svanberg said: “This is an important day for BP. Russia is vital to world energy security and will be increasingly significant in years to come. Russia has also been an important country for us over the past 20 years. Our involvement has moved with the times. TNK-BP has been a good investment and we are now laying a new foundation for our work in Russia.

“Rosneft is set to be a major player in the global oil industry. This material holding in Rosneft will, we believe, give BP solid returns. We consider that this is a deal which will deliver both cash and long term value for BP and its shareholders. It provides us with a sustainable stake in Russia’s energy future and is consistent with our group strategy.”