BP to buy back shares as TNK-BP sale closes

BP is to use up to $8 billion of the proceeds from the sale of its stake in TNK-BP to buy back its shares. The sale of the group's interest in the joint venture with state-controlled Russian oil group Rosneft was completed on Thursday, with BP getting $12.5 billion in cash and a 19.75% shareholding in Rosneft. The deal, which includes acquiring the shares of AAR, a consortium of four Soviet-born billionaires, is valued at $55 billion. It will make Rosneft a larger oil producer than Exxon Mobil, currently the largest investor-owned oil company.