Russia’s top oil producer, Rosneft, is holding out on signing a transport deal with the country’s pipeline monopoly, Transneft, a news report said.
A spokesman for Transneft said Rosneft was the only firm yet to sign a deal on oil and oil product shipments for 2017, Reuters reported.
An unidentified source said the firms had fallen out over compensation payments from Transneft for residual oil in the pipeline system, according to the report.
Transneft ships more than 90% of Russian oil, while Rosneft pumps out more than 40% of the country’s crude.
BP is Rosneft’s largest minority shareholder. It increased its stake in Rosneft to 19.75% in 2013 as part of a deal that saw the Russian firm buy TNK-BP, a joint venture between BP and a group of Ukrainian-born billionaires, for £36billion.
