British oil major BP has put on hold a key hi-tech project worth 6.7 million pounds ($8 million) in Skolkovo near Moscow over fears that it may be accused of breaching a shareholder agreement with its Russian venture TNK-BP, Kommersant business paper reported on Wednesday.
In spring, the AAR consortium, which represents BP's Russian partners in TNK-BP blocked a $16 billion share swap and Arctic shelf development deal between the British oil giant and Russia's top oil producer Rosneft, saying the pact broke TNK-BP's 2008 shareholder agreement, under which all energy projects must be offered to TNK-BP first.
BP was expected to finance the Skolkovo project on a parity basis with the Skolkovo fund, headed by TNK-BP co-owner and billionaire shareholder Viktor Vekselberg, but at the last moment refused to sign the deal. The firm cited the same shareholder agreement with TNK-BP, an instrument previously used by the joint venture's Russian shareholders to block BP's deal with Rosneft, the paper said.
A source close to Skolkovo said BP's behavior was irrational because the British oil major's investment in the hi-tech R&D project was not the subject of the TNK-BP shareholder agreement.
"The reason could be BP's desire to put Viktor Vekselberg, the president of the Skolkovo fund responsible to the country's leadership for the implementation of this important modernization project, into an awkward position," the source told the paper.
At the same time, a source at BP told the paper that the company held "a cautious position" and had turned to the AAR consortium for an evaluation of the project, because of its fears that it might be qualified as a breach of the TNK-BP shareholder agreement.
