Russian oil company Rosneft has approved a £1.5billion share buyback scheme as it looks to become more attractive to investors.
The buyback, for up to 340million shares, will run until December 31, 2020 as part of the firm’s plans to become more profitable and raise its share price.
Less than 10% of Rosneft shares are currently traded on the market, with the Russian government owning 50.1%, BP holding 19.75% and Qatar’s sovereign wealth wealth fund owning 19.5%.
The firm will appoint an “independent agent” to execute the buyback.
Separately, Rosneft said in its Q2 results that average daily production rose by 0.8% to 4.6million barrels of oil per day in the period.