Bashneft hits acquisition trail

摘要

Bashneft is considering buying a big western trading company and a US-based exploration firm. The plans surfaced through Russian news agency Interfax, which quoted new chairman Felix Yevtushenkov. Bashneft has its eye on one of Europe's three biggest trading firms by volume, according to Yevtushenkov, and is looking at three US upstream compa- nies active in Africa, the Middle East and South America. The logic behind plans to buy a big trading firm is hazy and there are ques- tion over how Bashneft might finance such a deal. Europe's three biggest trading companies are Vitol, Glencore and Trafigura, and even assuming they were for sale they would almost cer- tainly be beyond the reach of Bashneft.