Please solve: BP and Rosneft $2015.$ BP$($UK$)$ and Rosneft$($Russia$)$ had severed a$$ long$-$term joint venture in$2013,$ with Rosneft buying BP out with $$$$56$ billion in cash and a$20\%$ interest$($equity interest$)$ in Rosneft itself. Rosneft financed a large part of the buyout by borrowing heavily. The following$$ year, in July$2014,$ BP received a dividend on its ownership interest in Rosneft of RUB $25$ billion. But$$ Rosneft's performance had been$$ declining, as was the Russian ruble. The winter of$2014-2015$ in Europe was a relatively mild$$ one, and$$ Europe's purchases of$$ Rosneft's natural gas had fallen as had the price of natural gas.$$ Rosneft's total sales were$$ down, and the ruble had clearly fallen dramatically. And to add debt to$$ injury, Rosneft was due to make a payment of USD $19\mathrm{.}6$ billion in $2015$ on its debt from the BP buyout.

$1.$ Assuming a spot rate of RUB $34\mathrm{.}77$ equals USD $1\mathrm{.}00$RUB$34\mathrm{.}77=$USD$1\mathrm{.}00$ in July$2014,$ how much was the dividend paid to BP in U$.$S$.$ dollars?

The dividend paid to BP is $$$ enter your response here. $($Round to the nearest$$ cent.$)$

$2.$ If Rosneft were to pay the same dividend to BP in July$2015,$ and the spot rate at that time was RUB $75\mathrm{.}01$ equals USD $1\mathrm{.}00,$ what would BP receive in U$.$S$.$ dollars? The dividend BP would receive is $$$ enter your response here. $($Round to the nearest$$ cent.$)$

$3.$ If the combination of Western sanctions against Russia and lower global oil prices truly sent the Russian economy into$$ recession, and the spot rate was RUB $75\mathrm{.}01=$USD$1\mathrm{.}00$ in July$2015,$ what might$$ BP$\text{'}$s dividend be in July$2015?($Select from the$$ drop$-$down menus.$)$

$4.$BP$\text{'}$s dividend could very well be zero in $2015$ if the Russian economy $($improved or worsened$)$ in the first half of the$$ year, and$$ Rosneft's profitability was

$($destroyed or improved$)$ from economic$$ conditions, sanctions, and the $($fall or rise$)$ of the ruble.

$5.$ Even if Rosneft did manage to achieve a $($negative or positive$)$ level of profit in$2015,$ given its sizeable debt payment$$ obligation, it could choose to not pay a dividend in order to preserve cash flow for debt service.

$6.$Finally$,$ at least in the early spring of$2015,$ there was a real possibility that the Russian government could institute capital controls that would $($force

or prevent$)$ the payment of the dividend to a foreign stockholder like BP$.$ Capital controls were a real possibility because of the $($plummeting or skyrocketing$)$

value of the ruble.