MOSCOW (Reuters) - Ivan Sechin, son of Rosneft's (>> Rosneft' NK OAO) chief executive Igor Sechin, has joined the state oil company to work on offshore projects, the Kommersant newspaper quoted sources as saying on Tuesday.

It said Ivan Sechin, born in 1989, had joined last month as deputy head of a division involved in oil and gas exploration offshore and had previously worked at Gazprombank, Russia's third largest lender by assets.

Kommersant said company sources had told it they saw no conflict of interests in the younger Sechin joining his father, one of President Vladimir Putin's closest allies, at Rosneft.

In a written response to Reuters questions, Rosneft vice-president Yuri Kalinin confirmed the younger Sechin was working at one of Rosneft's production units in a non-management role, and this reflected his "qualifications and experience."

He said company regulations stipulated that relatives should not work together at the company's headquarters.

"At the same time we welcome relatives working in the company's production units. We think that such production dynasties help provide consistency, the transfer of professional experience, and strengthen loyalty to the company," Kalinin said.

(Reporting by Katya Golubkova; Editing by Timothy Heritage, Greg Mahlich)

Stocks treated in this article : Rosneft' NK OAO, BP plc