OREANDA-NEWS. October 08, 2010. Itera may sell a 50% stake to a strategic investor, such as TNK-BP, Vedomosti reported. According to sources close to management of both companies, negotiations are reportedly taking place with TNK-BP, however a decision has yet to be made. TNK-BP may use a combination of its own gas assets and cash for the purchase. Meanwhile, there are no details regarding which assets might be transferred to Itera, nor have there been any official comments on the potential deal, reported the press-centre of OTKRITIE Financial Corporation.

View: TNK-BP has a rather aggressive strategy for emerging as a global oil and gas player, and this purchase would be another step towards the goal. There are number of reasons for TNK-BP to acquire a stake in Itera. A TNK-BP subsidiary, Rospan, operates close to the Itera’s gas fields, which would allow TNK-BP to connect Itera’s fields to the existing infrastructure fairly easily.

And more generally, the acquisition of these assets would elevate TNK-BP to top position in gas production among the Russian oil peers. These two reasons perfectly fit into the company’s strategy. Moreover, domestic gas tariffs could be increased in the near future, which provides one more reason for TNK-BP to purchase additional production capacity. Although the details of the potential deal are unknown, we believe that this news could have a slim, yet positive, effect for TNK-BP.