Essar-Rosneft deal: Intention is to commercially optimise asset usage, says Essar Oil

After months of negotiations, the Essar group today announced the closure of its USD 12.9 billion deal to sell its refining arm to a consortium led by Russian oil major Rosneft.

Rosneft, along with Russian private equity fund united capital partners and Swiss commodity trading firm Trafigura will be buying around 98 percent stake in Essar Oil the completion of the deal comes as a huge relief to the Essar group, which has been grappling with debt for quite some time now. CNBC-TV18's Nisha Poddar spoke with Tony Fountain, Chairman and Non-Exec Director of Essar Oil.

For full interview, watch accompanying video...