China National Petroleum Corporation (CNPC) may consider increasing its stake in Russian state oil firm Rosneft during a planned privatisation program, its chairman said on Monday.

The Russian government has included a reduction in its stake in Rosneft, the world’s top listed oil producer by output, to 50 percent from 69.5 percent in its privatisation plan for 2016.

China’s CNPC already has a small stake in Rosneft.

“When the offer from Rosneft will be formed we will look at it in detail. … There is interest from our side and we will study the possibility of increasing our shareholding in Rosneft,” Wang Yilin told Rossiya-24 television in an interview.

The Rosneft sale is expected to bring around 650 billion roubles ($10 billion) to the Russian budget, which has been in deficit as the economy has slumped because of weak oil prices.

Andrei Belousov, a Kremlin adviser, was quoted last week as saying Russia should not sell the Rosneft stake on the open market but should target two strategic investors.

British oil major BP owns a 19.75 percent stake in Rosneft.

CNPC’s Wang told Rossiya-24 that if the company were to increase its holding in Rosneft, it would like to be involved in the firm’s management “in full accordance with the stake bought.”

He did not give an estimate for the stake CNPC would be interested in buying.