MOSCOW, Nov 12 (Reuters) - Rosneft, Russia's

biggest oil company, denied reports that it had any intention of

taking over a major chunk of the Russian oil sector, and said

such reports were a attempt to cast its chief, Igor Sechin, as a

wicked influence.

The Wall Street Journal reported that Russia is working on a

plan to merge Rosneft, which already accounts for 40% of

Russia's total oil production, with Gazprom Neft and

Lukoil, in what would create one of the world's most

powerful oil companies.

Rosneft issued a statement on the reports which it called a

"false flag" and said the reports cast CEO Sechin as "Evil

Sechin" and falsely intimated "Igor Sechin's insidious

intentions".

"The alleged intentions having nothing to do with reality"

and did not follow "any reasonable business logic", Rosneft

said.

Sechin, who speaks fluent Portugese and French, worked

alongside Vladimir Putin for many years - both before Putin rose

to the presidency and afterwards.

One of the most powerful men in Russia's vast energy sector,

Sechin has served as CEO of Rosneft since May 2012.

During his tenure Rosneft grew into the world's largest

publicly-listed oil producer by volumes before Saudi Aramco

first entered public markets in 2019, accounting for around 4%

of global oil output.