Russian-British oil giant TNK-BP is interested in joint projects with the Rosneft-BP alliance, the company said on Friday following a board meeting.
BP and Rosneft agreed a $16 billion share swap and decided to jointly develop the Russian Arctic shelf on January 14. Russian shareholders in TNK-BP questioned the deal in a London court as violating a shareholder agreement. The court blocked the deal until February 25 pending Stockholm court ruling.
"Documents on the strategic alliance between BP and Rosneft, which BP has provided to Rosneft, have led the company's management to inform the board of directors about a potential interest of TNK-BP in the alliance," the company said in a statement.
Previously the TNK-BP board planned to assess the prospects of the Arctic shelf development together with Rosneft and decide whether TNK-BP's interests had been damaged by the deal. The position would then be formulated to the Stockholm Arbitration court, which will hear the case after March 7.
BP has said the deal with Rosneft did not violate the TNK-BP shareholder agreement and BP Chief Executive Robert Dudley said his company was not against TNK-BP's participation in BP-Rosneft projects.
Rosneft, however, has said it was not considering TNK-BP as a potential partner because the company lacked experience and financial resources.
The dispute threatens to develop into another conflict between Russian and foreign shareholders in TNK-BP. In 2008, Robert Dudley, then TNK-BP chief executive, had to resign over a conflict of interests. Last year, he was appointed head of BP.
MOSCOW, February 18 (RIA Novosti)
