Qatar acquires stakes in Russian state oil firm

Qatar’s Investment Authority (QIA) and Swiss Commodity trading Glencore have agreed to acquire 19.5 per cent of Russia’s largest oil-producer, Rosnet.

The deal is worth €10.2 billion ($11.3 billion), US Bloomberg Economic reported.

The agency said yesterday that Glencore, which took charge of attracting investors on behalf of the Russian government, will pay €300 million ($316 million), while QIA will pay the rest.

The deal, which is the largest foreign investment in Russia since the beginning of the Ukrainian crisis, may breach sanctions against Russia that were imposed after its invasion of Ukraine in 2014.

US government officials are checking to see if sanctions have been violated. “The experts at the Department of Treasury that are responsible for constructing and enforcing the sanctions regime will carefully look at a transaction like this,” White House press secretary Josh Earnest said yesterday.