Azernews.Az

Rosneft will be willing to discuss the purchase of the AAR consortium's stake in TNK-BP but has not yet been approached by AAR, Rosneft CEO Igor Sechin said on Friday, RIA Novosti reported.

"We are aware of AAR's intention to sell their stake," he said. "If there is such a proposal, it would be considered," he added.

Rosneft has previously said it was interested in buying Britain's BP's 50 percent stake in TNK-BP, but some analysts think it is more likely it would buy out the Russian AAR partners' stake.

Sechin said acquiring stock in BP was not a priority for Rosneft.

"This is not a priority," he said, when asked if his company would like to obtain shares in BP.

Rosneft's role "as a financial investor" is not currently under consideration, he said, but did not rule out that this could happen later when the company had more spare capital.

Earlier this week, Russian business daily Kommersant said BP was close to signing a share-swap deal with Rosneft to become a core shareholder in Russia's largest state-controlled oil firm.

The paper claimed Rosneft would acquire BP's 50 percent stake in TNK-BP , while the British oil giant could get $10-15 billion in cash and over 12.5 percent of the Rosneft's stock to become Rosneft's largest shareholder after the Russian government.