Chelsea owner in talks to sell oil company

Billionaire Chelsea football club owner Roman Abramovich is in the final stage of talks to sell a majority stake in Russian oil company Sibneft to the state-controlled gas monopoly Gazprom, the Kommersant business daily reported today.

The newspaper quoted an unidentified source close to Gazprom as saying a deal could be signed this week. Sibneft announced Monday that it was paying out record 2004 dividends of nearly €2.2bn, prompting market speculation of an imminent sale by the oil company’s owner.