Putin's ally Sechin to stay as Rosneft's head for five more years

MOSCOW (Reuters) - Igor Sechin, a long-standing ally of President Vladimir Putin, will be staying as head of Russia's largest oil producer Rosneft, for five more years, according to a company board decision disclosed on Friday.

Sechin, known for his criticism of the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries, has been the CEO of Rosneft since 2012.

Sechin has been a close Putin ally since they met in the early 1990s on a trip to Brazil. Both men worked together in the St Petersburg mayor's office and Sechin followed Putin to Moscow in 1996 where they rose through the Kremlin administration to the pinnacle of Russian power.

While Putin was Kremlin chief from 2000 to 2008, Sechin served as his deputy chief of staff, and was branded as "the grey cardinal" of Russian politics by local media.

After Putin left the Kremlin in 2008 to become prime minister, Sechin was named one of seven deputy prime ministers, taking on a more public role.

In May 2012 he was appointed as Rosneft's president. After Rosneft bought the Anglo-Russian TNK-BP oil firm in 2013 for $55 billion, Rosneft became the world's top listed oil producer of the time. It produces around 4 million barrels per day, or some 4% of total global oil output.

(Reporting by Vladimir Soldatkin, Editing by Rosalba O'Brien)