"The list has been drawn up, and the candidatures determined. The head of TNK-BP will be elected before December 11," said Victor Vekselberg, the Renova Group owner and president.
Vekselberg said the shortlist included three persons, the leading candidate being Denis Morozov, former head of Russian metals giant Norilsk Nickel.
The Russian-British joint venture TNK-BP is split 50-50 between BP and the Alfa Access Renova (AAR) consortium of Russian billionaire shareholders, who clashed earlier this year over strategy, management and control of the third-largest oil producer in Russia.
Robert Dudley, the current head of TNK-BP, left Russia in July amid what BP alleged was a harassment campaign orchestrated by authorities. The British and Russian partners came to terms in September. Under the deal agreed by the parties, Dudley will leave TNK-BP by December to be replaced by an executive from outside BP with extensive Russian experience.
Britain's Sunday Times reported on October 19 that other names on the list are thought to be Peter O'Brien, a former Morgan Stanley banker and vice-president of Rosneft, and Pyotr Galitsyn, head of the Russian unit of BASF, the German chemicals group.
However, according to the British paper, Morozov, who worked for around 10 years at Norilsk Nickel, is seen as the frontrunner as he is "a highly respected executive accustomed to running large, oligarch-controlled industrial groups."
