BP-TNK partners are back on speaking terms
By Russell Hotten Industry Editor
Last Updated: 11:40pm BST 11/07/2008
BP and its billionaire partners in their Russian oil joint venture put the bad-mouthing on hold, with both sides describing a meeting to resolve differences as “polite and cordial.”
The two sides have been in a bitter fight for control of TNK-BP, Russia’s third largest oil producer, with the four billionaires demanding the removal of the venture’s chief executive, Robert Dudley.
A TNK-BP board meeting in Cyprus broke up without agreement on the main issues, but the mere fact that the two camps were sitting at a negotiating table was seen as progress. A previous scheduled meeting was abandoned when the Russians did not turn up.
Asked about the chances of a compromise, Viktor Vekselberg, who with Russian co-investors owns 50pc of TNK-BP, said: “There is always hope. I have been and remain optimistic, and I’m sure we’ll reach a compromise. Until we get an agreement, we will take all legitimate steps to protect our interests.”
More on oil
BP described the meeting as “sensible”, but held firm on demands that Mr Dudley be sacked. “We fully support Bob Dudley. He’s done a great job in terms of increasing production” and “also in terms of return to shareholders,” said a BP spokesman yesterday. Mr Dudley survived a vote last Monday to dismiss him as head of the company’s management subsidiary, known as TNK-BP Management, during a meeting of that unit’s board.
The Russian investors, operating under consortium called Alfa-Access-Renova (AAR), say TNK-BP’s financial performance has been poor and that Mr Dudley, a former BP employee, favours the UK company’s interests at the expense of other shareholders. This has been denied by BP.
Stan Polovets, chief executive of AAR and a vocal critic of BP, has been appointed to the TNK-BP board. He replaces Jean-Luc Vermeulen who quit in May out of frustration at the boardroom in-fighting.
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/money/main.jhtml?xml=/money/2008/07/12/cnbp112.xml
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