BP to Seek Sale of Russian Venture TNK-BP

MOSCOW (Reuters) - The Russian billionaire co-owners of TNK-BP , the Russian joint venture of oil major BP, are not in a position to block the possible sale of the British company's stake, a source close to BP said. "We can sell it if we want to," the source told Reuters in response to speculation that the billionaire quartet would seek to veto any deal. The Financial Times newspaper, citing a spokesman for Russian shareholder consortium AAR, on Monday reported that the TNK-BP shareholder agreement prevents BP from giving out any confidential information to a third party without its consent.

MOSCOW (Reuters) - A Russian court postponed on Friday hearing in an appeal against a decision to award more than $3 billion in damages against British oil major BP brought by minority shareholders in its Russian venture TNK-BP , a lawyer for BP said. The decision to postpone the hearings was made a day after the Soviet-born billionaires who share ownership of Anglo-Russian oil company TNK-BP with partner BP declared an end to a boardroom stalemate. The announced agreement would allow the partners to focus on finalizing the $55 billion sale of TNK-BP to Russian state oil major Rosneft . ...

LONDON (Reuters) - BP has said executives and fellow shareholders in its Russian oil joint venture TNK-BP should stop taking decisions which the British group believes need board approval, according to two sources familiar with the matter. The letter, sent to TNK-BP this week, exposed fraught tension between BP, Alfa-Access-Renova - the other co-owner of the Russian oil company, and its management following BP's announcement it may sell out. AAR, owned by four oligarchs, and BP joined forces in TNK-BP in 2003. ...