In a move that will result in substantial debt reduction for the Essar Group, banks led by State Bank of India (SBI) and ICICI Bank on Friday cleared the decks for Essar Oil’s Rs85,000-crore stake sale to Rosneft and the investment consortium led by Trafigura and UCP, sources said. The sources added that banks have approved and authorised the release of shares of Essar to facilitate closure of the stake sale. Bloomberg reported on Thursday that Rosneft chief executive officer Igor Sechin said at the Moscow-based company’s annual general meeting that the legal decision on Rosneft’s guaranteed entry in Essar was formalised.