MOSCOW, March 1 (RIA Novosti) - British oil major BP’s CEO Robert Dudley has been nominated for the Board of Directors of Russia’s state-run oil major Rosneft as a state representative, according to a government decree published on Friday.

BP secured two board seats at Rosneft after an agreement to sell its 50 percent stake in Russian joint venture TNK-BP to the company.

Last October, Rosneft announced the all-out purchase of TNK-BP from BP and the AAR consortium of Russian billionaire shareholders.

Under the deal, BP will receive $17.1 billion in cash for its 50 percent stake plus stock representing 12.84 percent of Rosneft’s shares, while the AAR consortium of Soviet-born billionaire shareholders will sell its 50 percent stake in the joint venture “for cash consideration of $28 billion.”

The deal is expected to close in the first half of 2013.

Rosneft head Igor Sechin said in January that the company would welcome Dudley’s inclusion on the board.

Meanwhile, three incumbent Rosneft board members – Bank of Moscow head Mikhail Kuzovlev, President of UCP holding Ilya Shcherbovich and VTB Senior Vice President Sergei Shishin – have not been nominated for the new board.