Russ Oil-Gas

28.03.2007 09:31 [Neftegaz.ru] - Russia's state-controlled oil company Rosneft won an auction to buy shares from an auction of Yukos' former assets. Rosneft was bidding against BP's joint venture in Russia, TNK-BP, but analysts believe that TNK-BP was only participating to give the auction a semblance of being a competitive process. Tim Osborne, a director of Menatep, which represents the founding shareholders of Yukos, said: "BP were told to turn up at the auction and told what to bid... these are stolen goods, sold through a fake auction." The shares were picked up by Rosneft yesterday after a brief auction, at 10 per cent below the current market price. It paid 197.84bn roubles for 9.44 per cent of its own shares.