Russian joint venture TNK-BP Ltd. has recommended its board
discuss legal action against the U.K. oil major over a failed tie-up with state
oil producer OAO Rosneft (ROSN.RS), a person close to TNK-BP said Tuesday.
The recommendation was engineered by TNK-BP's Deputy Chief Executive Maxim
Barsky prior to an announcement last week that he will exit the company Nov. 1,
the person said. It is unclear if and when the board will discuss the issue.
The news comes a day after the board of TNK-BP Holding, a listed unit of TNK-BP
Ltd., voted against joining a lawsuit brought by a group of minority
shareholders seeking $13 billion in damages from BP.
News of the recommendation was first reported in Tuesday's editions of the
Financial Times, which said TNK-BP management favored a suit of billions of
dollars against BP over the failed Rosneft deal. Lawyers from two international
law firms told TNK-BP management that the company had a strong legal case, the
report said.
The minorities allege that BP unlawfully blocked a bid by TNK-BP to replace the
U.K. company in a $16 billion share swap and Arctic exploration deal with
Rosneft. The tie-up collapsed in May, after a court upheld a claim by BP's
partners in TNK-BP that shareholders must pursue all projects in Russia
through the joint venture.
TNK-BP is half-owned by BP and a group of Soviet-born businessmen known as the
Alfa-Access-Renova consortium, or AAR.
Parallel to the minority lawsuit, AAR has asked the Stockholm arbitration court
to rule on whether the BP company should pay damages to its Russian partners
for breaking the TNK-BP shareholder agreement.
AAR declined to comment. TNK-BP Chief Financial Officer Jonathan Muir declined
to comment on the issue at a news conference Tuesday to release TNK-BP's
earnings. A BP spokesman said the issue is "subject to strict
confidentiality obligations and the parties are not at liberty to discuss it."