The legal chess game between BP and its billionaire partners in TNK-BP, its Russian oil venture, shows no signs of ending, raising questions over the sustainability of the current ownership structure.
Earlier this week, BP accused one of its partners – Renova, owned by Russian billionaire Viktor Vekselberg – of breaching the shareholder agreement that governs the venture. The move, coming just three months after the partners thwarted BP’s plans to strike an alliance with Russia’s state oil champion Rosneft, was widely seen as a tit-for-tat response.
BP still thinks it can do business in Russia playing by ‘Western’ rules…