TNK-BP may join offshore projects, if it offers good terms - Putin

BRYANSK (Itar-Tass) - The Russian-British oil company TNK-BP
may join in offshore projects, if it offers Rosneft and Gazprom suitable
conditions, Prime Minister Vladimir Putin told reporters, when asked about
the possible involvement of the company in the development of offshore
fields.
"There is a law under which we have commissioned Rosneft and Gazprom
to work on the Arctic shelf. And if the TNK offers either company the
right conditions, then - why not?" he said.
Commenting on the conflict that developed after Rosneft and the BP
signed an agreement to work together on the shelf without attracting the
TNK into this project Putin said that he had been "unaware" of the
differences. In his view, the conflict must be resolved "above all in
court, because it is an internal affair of the two companies."
"They signed an agreement on joint activities and, as you know, the
TNK believes that the BP should coordinate with it any activity in Russian
territory and work together," he said. "And the BP believes that this rule
is not absolute and universal. It recalls that it works without the TNK,
say, in Sakhalin, and it hopes to resolve this dispute by peaceful means
or achieve some kind of a compromise."
However, according to Putin, "neither party has informed Rosneft they
have some problems."
"And when I met with the head of the BP, he told me nothing about
that," said the prime minister.
"It is their problem and they must solve it together, it is their
internal affair," Putin said.
On January 26 this year the BP and Rosneft signed an agreement in
Davos on strategic partnership under the agreements achieved two weeks
earlier on the establishment of a strategic alliance for the joint
development of hydrocarbons in the Russian Arctic. According to the
agreement, Rosneft will receive five percent of BP shares in exchange for
9.5 percent of its own shares. The companies will create a joint venture
that will conduct exploration and development of three promising oil and
gas sites in the Kara Sea. In the joint venture Rosneft will own almost 67
percent, and the BP, a little over 33 percent.
Rosneft president Eduard Khudainatov a week before the signing of the
agreement said that the company planned to complete the share swap with
the BP within 3-4 weeks.
However, on February 1 the City Court in London upheld the claim of
the Russian shareholders of TNK-BP and imposed an injunction against the
completion of the deal between the BP and Rosneft on a strategic alliance
in the Arctic shelf and the exchange of shares. The High Court also
imposed a ban on holding substantive talks between the BP and Rosneft.
After the end of the hearing, held behind closed doors, Justice Michael
Burton said that the companies had reached a reasonable agreement to block
action on the BP deal with Rosneft till February 25 or until the verdict
of the Stockholm Court of Arbitration (after March 7).
The hearings were initiated at the request of the Russian shareholder
of the TNK-BP - AAR consortium (Alfa-Group, Access Industries and the
Renova Group).