UPDATE: BP Files Arbitration Papers Against TNK-BP Shareholder
09 Août 2011 - 11:18AM
Dow Jones News
U.K. oil major BP PLC (BP) has accused one of its Russian
billionaire partners in the TNK-BP joint venture of violating a
shareholder agreement, filing a notice of arbitration in Stockholm,
the shareholder said Tuesday.
The move to fire back at its partners in the TNK-BP joint
venture comes after BP's attempt to form a strategic alliance with
Russian state oil company OAO Rosneft (ROSN.RS) collapsed in May,
following a legal victory by its partners in TNK-BP Ltd.
(TNBP.RS)
A spokesman for Soviet-born business tycoon Viktor Vekselberg,
who holds a 12.5% stake in the TNK-BP oil joint venture through his
Renova Holding, said BP filed the arbitration notice on Friday,
alleging that Renova violated the shareholder agreement between BP
and Alfa-Access-Renova, the consortium of billionaires who jointly
control TNK-BP with the U.K. energy giant.
The billionaire partners, also known as AAR, claimed that the
Rosneft tie-up would violate the TNK-BP shareholder agreement that
requires BP and AAR to offer TNK-BP any energy proposals in Russia
before working with others.
In turn, BP now alleges that Vekselberg has breached the
shareholder agreement by holding large natural gas and fuel assets
through his IES Holding Ltd., Russia's largest private power supply
company.
The Renova spokesman maintained that the holding company hasn't
violated the terms of the TNK-BP shareholder agreement.
BP Tuesday declined to confirm or deny whether a notice of
arbitration had been filed, only saying that "arbitration is a
confidential matter."
Last month, AAR recommenced legal proceedings against BP in an
attempt to win billions of dollars in compensation from the U.K.
oil company for the alleged damage done to the joint venture.
Also last month, a Russian court ordered BP and TNK-BP to
provide documents in preparation for a lawsuit by minority
shareholders in TNK-BP, who say that BP caused losses of up to
several billion dollars by preventing TNK-BP from replacing BP in
the Rosneft deal earlier this year.
-By Jacob Gronholt-Pedersen and Alexis Flynn, Dow Jones
Newswires; +7 495 232 9197; jacob.pedersen@dowjones.com
(William Mauldin in Moscow contributed to this story.)