MOSCOW (AFP) – BP’s Russian partners in TNK-BP said Friday that they were awaiting proposals from BP over its deal with Russia’s Rosneft and denied plans to exit the oil giant’s local joint venture.
The statement came as a landmark agreement between BP and the Russian oil major on a 9.77 billion pounds share swap and joint exploration of the the country’s Arctic shelf came to a halt, following a protest by BP’s Russian partners in TNK-BP.
BP’s chief executive Robert Dudley was meeting Rosneft president Eduard Khudainatov for talks in Moscow on Friday, Russian agencies reported Friday.
The two oil companies on Thursday extended the original deadline to complete the share swap to May 16 in an attempt to resolve a conflict with Alfa-Access-Renova (AAR), the group of billionaires who make up the Russian half of TNK-BP.
“We trust that BP will use the extension it has got from Rosneft to ensure that both the Arctic opportunity and the Share Swap are pursued through a structure consistent with BP’s obligations under the TNK-BP shareholder agreement,” AAR’s CEO Stan Polovets said in a statement sent to AFP.
Rosneft’s Khudainatov told journalists Friday that the company is not in the market for a new strategic partner
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