Russia's Bashkortostan May Get 25 pct Stake in Bashneft

Local authorities in Russia's Bashkortostan region may be given a 25 percent stake in mid-sized oil firm Bashneft, Alexei Texler, Russia's deputy energy minister, said on Wednesday.

Russia's Federal Agency for State Property currently has a stake of almost 74 percent in Bashneft, once owned by Sistema . The state share is to rise to just over 75 percent after Bashneft cancels some of its treasury shares.

A Moscow court transferred shares in Bashneft from Sistema -- a conglomerate owned by billionaire businessman Vladimir Yetuvshenkov -- to the state last year after ruling its privatisation had been unlawful.

"It is expected that out of this 75 percent, 25 percent plus one share will be kept by the republic (of Bashkortostan), and just over 50 percent held by Russian Federation," Texler told reporters.

Speculation has been rife over who will buy Bashneft, Russia's fastest growing oil company by output. Apart from the state, some 6 percent of Bashneft is held as treasury stock, while the rest is split among minority shareholders.

Russia has planned to conduct a public sale of Bashneft after the market improves but a deal was seen unlikely over the next three years.

Alexander Korsik, Bashneft's chief executive, said last November that Bashneft's output could reach around 19 million tonnes in 2015 (382,000 barrels per day).

On Wednesday, he repeated the plan to increase production by 7 percent, year-on-year, from 17.8 million tonnes reached in 2014. Separately, Texler said that Bashneft may pay out around 30 percent of last year's net profit in dividends.

Bashneft has its headquarters in Ufa, which is the capital of the central Russian region of Bashkortostan.

Reporting by Olesya Astakhova