BP denies plan to sell TNK-BP
BP yesterday insisted that it had no plans to sell down its half share in Russia’s third-largest oil producer TNK-BP, denying comments from sources close to its partners that it threatened such a move.
The oil giant said its focus in Russia was on developing its TNK-BP venture, and denied it was preparing to reduce its interest.
“BP has taken no decision to sell any of its shareholding in TNK-BP, and there is no current intention to do so,” a spokesman said.
Sources close to AAR, a group of Soviet-born billionaires that owns 50 per cent of TNK-BP, said BP executives had indicated on Monday that it was ready to sell down its stake.
AAR interpreted the comments as a possible negotiating tactic to advance BP’s hopes for a tie-up with Kremlin-controlled Rosneft, the sources said.
BP signed a £10bn share swap and Arctic exploration deal with Rosneft in January, but AAR blocked the deal in court on the basis the TNK-BP shareholder agreement obliged BP to use TNK-BP as its primary vehicle for investment in Russia.
The deal was supposed to mark a turning point for BP after the Gulf of Mexico oil spill in April 2010.
Sources close to BP and AAR said that as part of the talks to allow the Rosneft tie-up to proceed, BP last month told AAR it could sell part of its stake in TNK-BP to Rosneft if AAR did not lift its opposition to the deal.
Such a move could negate the TNK-BP shareholder agreement, thus removing a bar on BP partnering with Rosneft, sources close to both sides said.
AAR fears that if Rosneft gained a foothold in TNK-BP, AAR’s effective control of the company would be challenged.
“AAR would be deeply, deeply unhappy with it,” one source close to the billionaires said, adding that if BP did this, AAR could revive its litigation against the Rosneft tie-in.