European Commission approves Rosneft's purchase of TNK-BP

PanARMENIAN.Net - The European Commission gave approval on Friday, March 8 to Russian state-owned oil giant Rosneft's purchase of the TNK-BP oil company, and said it sees the deal as no barrier to competition in the European oil market, according to RIA Novosti.

"The commission has closely analyzed the possible consequences of the deal. As with all such cases with state companies, the EC was interested in whether Rosneft operated independently of the state or government, or whether the state could use its control of state companies in the sector," the statement said.

"This question was ultimately left open as the proposed acquisition did not give rise to competition concerns," the European Commission said.

Rosneft clinched two deals at the end of last year with BP and the AAR group of Russian billionaire shareholders to buy the oil company for around $55 billion.