OREANDA-NEWS. October 28, 2009. TNK-BP International’s CFO Jonathan Muir held a conference call for analysts and investors regarding the company’s 9M09 operating results and financials. The main takeaways from the conference are as follows, reported the press-centre of OTKRITIE Financial Corporation:

According to the company’s CEO, TNK-BP is unlikely to hold an IPO anytime soon because it has a well-balanced portfolio of assets. Company shareholders do not want to dilute capital and therefore decided to postpone discussion on this issue to summer 2010.

TNK-BP intends to put on stream its two fields on the Yamal Peninsula (the Suzun field and the Tagul field) in 2012, while the large Russkoye high viscosity oil field will be put into operation not earlier than 2013-2015. The time frames of Russkoye’s development depend upon agreement with Rosneft on the Vankor-Purpe pipeline.

The company’s CFO confirmed that a new TNK-BP CEO is likely to be appointed by year's end. As Muir said, there are only two candidates, Maxim Barsky and Pavel Skitovich.

View. We believe that the news about postponing discussion of an IPO might disappoint investors, albeit marginally, because the news was not unexpected. However, the strong intention of the company to appoint a new CEO should only encourage investors. In terms of production data, according to our estimates, in 10 years oil output at greenfields (Uvat, Yamal fields, Eastern Siberian fields) could contribute 1/4 of TNK-BP Holding’s total oil production.

Valuation. TNK-BP Holding’s common stocks trade on P/E at a 24% discount to the rest of the energy sector.

Action. We regard this news as marginally negative for TNK-BP Holding’s stocks in the short-run.