Rosneft could immediately book an almost $1bn (€750m) profit were it to sell assets previously owned by bankrupt Russian oil company Yukos, which it bought in a two-party auction yesterday.

State-owned energy company Rosneft beat BP's Russian joint venture, TNK-BP, in the auction for the 9.44% stake in itself as a well as Rb 3.56bn (€103m) of Yuganskneftegaz promissory notes, bidding a mere 1% above the starting price and 11% below the market value of the shares.