Qatar and commodities trader Glencore have paid 10.5 billion euros for a stake in <br />Russia’s giant oil firm Rosneft.<br /><br /> It comes days after Russia and OPEC agreed to coordinated output cuts to support oil prices, the first time they have cut in tandem in 15 years.<br /><br /> The state-owned firm had kept the deal a tightly-guarded secret. The first word emerged when Russian President Vladimir Putin met Rosneft Chief Executive Igor Sechin on Wednesday evening in Moscow.<br /><br /> Putin described the sale as the most significant this year in the energy market and the most significant in the Russian privatization history.<br /><br /> The deal, to acquire a 19.5 percent of the firm from the Russian state, suggests the lure of taking a share in one of the world’s biggest oil companies outweighs the risks that come with Western sanctions imposed on Russia over the Ukraine conflict.<br /><br /> The president of Russia’s oil and gas service, Victor Khaikov, said there was no infringement of the sanctions because Qatar is a sovereign fund and Glencore is a firm representing Switzerland and therefore not the EU.<br /><br /> Italian bank Intesa Sanpaolo is expected to provide a large chunk of funds to the Qatar/Swiss consortium.<br /><br /> Glencore is likely to finance part of the deal by putting up 300 million euros of its own equity with the rest financed by Qatar.<br />
