The AAR consortium, representing Alfa Group, Access Industries and Renova, holds 50% in the energy company.
"Speculations and rumors that AAR is planning to sell its stake in TNK-BP are ungrounded and untrue," the consortium said.
The Russian business daily Vedomosti reported on Thursday that Gazprom was willing to buy a controlling stake in the Russian-British joint oil venture TNK-BP by the end of the year for $20 billion.
According to the paper, the energy giant approached Russian shareholders at TNK-BP, Russia's third largest company in terms of crude oil output, early in 2008 with a proposal to buy out their entire stake in the joint venture and told them that it had agreed on purchasing another 1% from BP.
"The AAR consortium, which is a long-term strategic investor in TNK-BP, does not intend to exit the company's shareholder capital and has never held and is not holding any talks on the sale of its stake in TNK, which is an example of one of the most successful companies in the energy sector," a statement by the Russian shareholders said.
Gazprom has long been seeking to buy a controlling stake in TNK-BP. However, until late last year, a moratorium on the sale of stock by the Russian-British joint venture was in effect, a Gazprom manager said.
