Russian shareholders in TNK-BP (TNBP.RS) may seek hundreds of millions of U.K. pounds sterling in damage from the company's Chief Executive Robert Dudley, who they accuse of breaching his duties, the Daily Telegraph said Thursday citing a letter sent from the Russian shareholders to Dudley.
In the letter, the four Russians billionaire shareholders, who own TNK-BP on a parity basis with U.K. oil major BP PLC (BP), claim Dudley approved capital expenditure above an agreed $3.5 billion limit.
"Such action on your part represents a serious breach of your duties to TNK-BP," the Russians said in the letter, adding they "reserve the right to seek all available remedies against you personally...because you have failed to act in the best interests of all shareholders."
Dudley has become the center of a shareholder struggle over control of the company, Russia's third largest oil producer.