Bashneft gets used to the role of a state-owned company.
As expected, last week a controlling stake in Bashneft of 71.6% owned by Sistema and its subsidiary Sistema-Invest was handed over to the state. AFK has decided not to challenge the court's decision in case of the state-owned shares of the Bashkir fuel and energy complex privatization. This is undoubtedly an important event for the minority shareholders.
Firstly, further change of ownership in the event of the state decision to again privatize the controlling stake in Bashneft is possible and is likely. But we do not expect it to happen in the near future. In terms of sanctions and low oil prices, the development of Russian oil and gas companies on a number of key areas will at least slow down because of their limited access to technology and external and internal sources of finance operating and investing activities.