Colonel Andrei Pilipchuk, a spokesman for the Russian Interior Ministry's economic security department, said two TNK-BP officials had been summoned to give statements. He did not elaborate.
TNK-BP has refused to comment on reports regarding the police raid. "We refuse to provide any official comments," TNK-BP spokesman Alexander Shadrin said.
Following the news, the indicative price of TNK-BP shares plunged 10% on the RTS exchange.
Alexander Fetisov, chief analyst at the East Commerts Investment Group, said however that the news would only inflict temporary problems on the company's share prices.
"The stock has a high growth potential. As for the police raid, many Russian companies have undergone the same thing," Fetisov said.
The police similarly raided on Wednesday the Moscow office of British energy giant BP, a BP Russia spokesman said.
"The police are conducting an investigation at the office. We are providing them with all kinds of assistance," said Vladimir Buyanov.
TNK-BP was established in 2003 through a merger of the Russian oil companies TNK, Sidanko, and Onako and the assets of BP in Russia and Ukraine. TNK-BP extracts oil in West Siberia, the Volga and Urals regions, East Siberia and Sakhalin. In 2005, TNK-BP produced more than 75 million metric tons of oil (1,506,164 bbl/d).
Sidanko produced 9.3 million tons (68.36 million bbl) of oil in 2000, and refined another 3.7 million metric tons.
