MOSCOW: Russian plans to privatise a stake in its top crude producer, Rosneft, is not certain to go forward in 2012, in part because the company still has plans for an asset swap deal, Economy Minister Elvira Nabiullina said on Monday.
Russia is looking to raise more than $10 billion next year in the latest phase of its privatisation programme, with the bulk coming from the sale of its 15 percent stake in Rosneft.
"There is a question about Rosneft (privatisation). We have it in the plans, but the question is, can we do it next year?" she told reporters. "There are different proposals, not only to sell in the open market, but to do an asset swap," she added.
Rosneft earlier this year failed to secure a $16 billion agreement to swap shares with BP and tap resources in the Arctic after Russia-connected stakeholders in TNK-BP, half-owned by the British major, successfully won an injunction to block the deal.
Rosneft instead clinched an agreement with ExxonMobile to develop oil and gas fields in the Russian Arctic and Black Sea. The deal did not include any share swaps.
The planned sale of a minority stake in Sberbank , Russia's largest bank, is already on hold due to difficult market conditions. No dates have been confirmed for any further state share sell-offs.
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