Russia's Rosneft agrees to buy Weatherford's Russian, Venezuelan assets

MOSCOW, July 13 (Reuters) - Russia's Rosneft, the world's biggest listed oil company by output, has agreed to buy drilling and well-servicing assets of oil and gas service company Weatherford International (NYSE: WFT - news) in Russia and Venezuela, the company said on Sunday.

Rosneft, which is expanding its own oilfield services unit RN-Burenie, added that it will buy a total of eight Weatherford group companies after all needed approvals are granted. The deal is expected to close before the end of the year.

Russia, the world's top oil producer, needs to increase its drilling to maintain its current output of about 10.5 million barrels per day over the next decade.

Private oilfield services firm Integra says that Weatherford accounted for about 3 percent of the Russian oilfield services market by revenue in 2012 and the largest players were Eurasia Drilling Company, Surgutneftegaz and Gazprom .

(Reporting by Katya Golubkova; Editing by David Goodman)