Robert Dudley, chief executive of BP PLC's Russian joint venture TNK-BP, is confident the group will reach an agreement with Gazprom relating to the US$18 billion Kovykta gas project in eastern Siberia, according to a report in the Daily Telegraph newspaper.
"I think there will be a lot of headlines, lots of disturbing signs, but you put all that aside, it is going to be something that I think you will get clear direction on in the next six months," Dudley was quoted by the newspaper as saying.
"And I think we will be working with Gazprom on (the Kovykta) project for many years to come," he said.
TNK-BP owns 63 percent of Rusia Petroleum, which holds the license for the Kovykta field. Its partners include Russia's Interros Holdings, led by businessman Vladimir Potanin, and the Irkutsk regional government.
TNK-BP has started discussions with Gazprom over the latter's possible participation in Kovykta.
The pair, however, have yet to decide the potential "shape and form" of Gazprom's entry in the project, BP said last month.
(AFX News, 26/01/2007)