A Siberian arbitration court Thursday rejected an appeal by minority shareholders in BP PLC's (BP) Russian joint venture, OAO TNK-BP Holding (TNBP.RS), in a multi billion-dollar lawsuit, marking a small victory for the U.K. oil major.
A Siberian arbitration court Thursday rejected an appeal by minority
shareholders in BP PLC's (BP) Russian joint venture, OAO TNK-BP Holding
(TNBP.RS), in a multi billion-dollar lawsuit, marking a small victory for the
U.K.
oil
major.
The plaintiffs--led by Andrey Prokhorov who owns a 0.0000106% stake in
TNK-BP--claim two BP-appointed directors on the TNK-BP board acted against the
company's best interest by dismissing a bid to replace the U.K. company as
partner of state-controlled oil company OAO Rosneft (ROSN.RS) in an Arctic
exploration alliance that collapsed in May last year.
A court in the West Siberian city of
Tyumen
,
where TNK-BP is registered, in November rejected the plaintiffs' two
claims--one against BP and one against the two BP-appointed directors.
On Thursday, an arbitration court in the Siberian city of
Omsk
upheld the ruling in the lawsuit against the two directors, BP said in a
statement. The same court will hear an appeal in the case against BP on March
2, BP said.
A BP spokesman said BP believes "there is no merit to the lawsuits against
them since there were in fact no damages in the form of lost profits."
Lawyers at Liniya Prava law firm representing the plaintiffs confirmed the
ruling but declined to comment further.
BP depends on TNK-BP for about a quarter of its total production. The latest
problems with Russian court authorities are reminiscent of similar troubles BP
had in 2008 during a public dispute with its Russian partners in TNK-BP--a
group of Soviet-born businessmen known as the Alfa-Access-Renova consortium, or
AAR
.
Thursday's ruling is a small victory for BP, however the minority shareholders
still hold further appeal options, even if the
Omsk
court
rejects both lawsuits.
A separate
Stockholm
arbitration tribunal hearing the long-running dispute between BP and
AAR
will
later this year give a definitive ruling on whether BP breached its shareholder
agreement when it pursued the Rosneft alliance. The ruling was requested by
BP's Russian partners, who also asked that the panel make a nominal damages
award of $1 if it finds BP was in breach.
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