TNK-BP board meeting fails to resolve dispute over Rosneft venture

An attempt to end the war between shareholders inside TNK-BP that threatens to derail BP's carefully choreographed move into the Russian Arctic through a tie-up with the state-owned oil company Rosneft has failed. The opposing sides met in Berlin for an extraordinary general meeting of the TNK-BP board but the talks broke up with an agreement only to meet again on 12 March. BP, which holds half of the TNK shares, will meet the Russian oligarchs from the Alfa-Access-Renova (AAR) consortium, which owns the other half, in London on 8 March in front of three high court judges as part of arbitration proceedings. "We hope that the next board of directors meeting will support the management's recommendations and that TNK-BP's management will be authorised to start negotiations with BP and Rosneft to participate in the Arctic deal and share swap," said Mikhail Fridman, chief executive of TNK-BP and also the lead figure in AAR. The Russian shareholders argue that BP broke the terms of a TNK agreement by not consulting them over the planned tie-up with Rosneft that was unveiled in mid-January, which AAR wants to join in. BP says that AAR was told about the talks with Rosneft and believes it can co-operate happily with both Russian firms.