Russia's AlfaAccessRenova consortium, which represents the four Russian billionaire shareholders in Russian-British joint oil venture TNK-BP, has no plans to sell its stake in the company, Viktor Vekselberg, one of the AAR owners, said on Tuesday.
"I've spent 20 years in this company, and I certainly do not plan to leave it," Vekselberg said when asked whether AAR had considered selling its stake.
TNK-BP had earlier offered to repurchase five percent of BP's shares to swap them for a stake in Russian state-run oil major Rosneft to resolve the dispute between AAR and BP. In turn, BP offered to buy AAR's stake in the joint venture for $27 billion, a proposal rejected by the consortium.
"We are protecting TNK-BP's interests, we want to work in TNK-BP. Rosneft has not offered anything to us. We are just fighting for our rights in accordance with the shareholder agreement. We want neither to sell the company nor to quit it," Vekselberg added.
In January, BP and Rosneft signed a $16 billion share swap deal and an agreement to develop the hydrocarbon resources in the Russian Arctic together. The deal was supported by Deputy Prime Minister Igor Sechin, a close ally of Prime Minister Vladimir Putin, but a London court imposed an injunction on the deals following a suit from AAR.
MOSCOW, April 20 (RIA Novosti)
