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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