Russia Considers Merging Its Oil Giants Into a Single Entity

Russia may be considering the creation of a massive state oil company by combining current state assets Rosneft and Gazprom Neft, and private Lukoil, the Wall Street Journal reported, citing unnamed sources. According to the report, the mechanism discussed is for Rosneft to absorb the two smaller companies, which would result in the world’s second-largest oil company by output, right after Saudi Aramco. Rosneft alone is currently pumping an average of some 3.5 million barrels daily, per Rystad data cited by the Wall Street Journal. Gazprom…