BP: Interested In Russia's Arctic, Not Seen TNK-BP Plan Yet
05/05/2012| 12:28pm US/Eastern
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BP PLC (BP, BP.LN) is interested in participating in Arctic projects in Russia but has yet to be presented with plans from its Russian joint venture TNK-BP Holding (>> TNK-BP Holding OAO) to participate in developing energy in the region together with state oil company Rosneft (>> Rosneft' NK OAO), BP's spokesman told Dow Jones Newswires on Saturday.
TNK-BP, a 50-50 joint venture between BP and a group of Russian investors, is interested in partnering with Rosneft to develop mostly untapped offshore energy resources in the Arctic, TNK-BP's senior vice president of exploration and appraisal told Dow Jones Newswires.
"TNK-BP management has not yet presented to shareholders plans about activities in the Arctic, therefore it will be premature to comment on these specific developments," BP's spokesman in Moscow said.
"In general BP remains interested in participating in Arctic projects in Russia and in the rest of the world," he added.
Rosneft has invited private companies to work with it on the Arctic shelf. TNK-BP thus joins Lukoil Holdings (LUKOY, LKOH.RS) in expressing interest.
Norway's Statoil ASA (STO, STL.OS) signed on Saturday a cooperation agreement with Rosneft to develop Russia's Arctic offshore fields, joining two other global majors, Exxon Mobil Corp. (XOM) and Italy's Eni SpA (E, ENI.MI), which signed similar deals in April.
BP partners in TNK-BP in 2011 forced BP, which depends on its Russian joint venture for about a quarter of its total production, to give up an Arctic exploration project and share-swap deal with Rosneft. A London court agreed with their argument that the deal would violate the TNK-BP shareholder agreement and that all BP investments in Russia must be pursued through TNK-BP.
-By Alexander Kolyandr, Dow Jones Newswires; +7 495 232-9192 alexander.kolyandr@dowjones.com
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