China's hopes of securing a major stake in Rosneft were dashed yesterday when the Chinese National Petroleum Corp received just a sixth of the shares it was seeking in the Russian oil giant's IPO.

CNPC had put in an order for $3 billion (€2.27 billion) worth of shares in Rosneft as part of a broader strategy to get better access to Russia's reserves.

Rosneft, which yesterday raised $10.4 billion with listings in London and Moscow, allocated CNPC a stake worth $500 million.

CNPC was one of three strategic investors that took part in Rosneft's controversial flotation.

The others - BP, Europe's largest energy group, and Petronas, Malaysia's state oil company - were allocated stakes worth about $1 billion each.

One person familiar with the details said Chinese demands for better access to reserves had backfired.

They said the Chinese had thought they had the upper hand, and their demands had annoyed the Russians. CNPC, BP, Petronas and a fourth investor, have taken up nearly half of the Rosneft's offering, Russia's biggest flotation and the world's fifth-largest.

Rosneft's shares were priced at $7.55 each, the top end of the initial range, giving it a market capitalisation of about $79.8 billion. In conditional trading yesterday, they rose slightly.

But also yesterday, the troubled oil group Yukos sought permission in London for a judicial review, in an effort to stop the full listing of Rosneft's shares - due to start trading unconditionally on Wednesday.

The judge agreed to hold a hearing on Monday.