Government plans Zarubezhneft sale. (News).(Brief Article)

The Russian government is planning to privatise overseas oil projects firm Zarubezhneft. Observers attribute the government's unexpected move, which is expected to attract bids from Russia's leading oil firms, to lobbying from unnamed oil companies eager to snap it up.

Prime minister Mikhail Kasyanov has signed a ruling authorising the sale, says a government spokesman. But the exact terms will be determined at a later date by the federal property fund, which supervises privatisations. Zarubezhneft management has objected to the proposed sale, appealing to President Vladimir Putin, who in 2001 appointed former FSB officer Nikolai Tokarev as general director of the …