TNK-BP

TNK-BP Ltd. (RTS|TNBP) is a major vertically integrated Russian oil company, registered in the British Virgin Islands in September 2003 as a result of the merger of British Petroleum's Russia and Ukraine oil and gas interests with assets of Alfa Group and Access/Renova Group - a group of stakeholders called AAR. [ [http://www.tnk-bp.com/company/history/ "History", TNK-BP corporate website, Undated] .Accessed: 10-01-2008.] TNK-BP controlled 96 percent of the stock of TNK and 98 percent of the stock of ONAKO and SIDANKO through British Virgin Island and Cypriot subsidiary companies. TNK, ONAKO and SIDANKO in turn held controlling packages in all TNK-BP's main affiliates. From the company's foundation until a second round of reorganization in August 2006, the company's assets were held by the TNK-BP Holding group, registered in Uvat in Russia's Tyumen Oblast.

The first stage of the restructuring was completed in September 2005, when minority shareholders' stock in 14 key TNK-BP subsidiaries was traded for 2.5 percent of stock in TNK-BP Holding. About 70 percent of minority shareholders traded their stock. The rest remained shareholders in the subsidiaries. The second stage of restructuring was the exchange of TNK, ONAKO and SIDANKO stock.

TNK-BP's Ukrainian enterprises; Kovykta gas condensate deposit developer RUSIA Petroleum; Slavneft (half owned by the Russian state-comtrolled Gazprom Neft); STBP Holdings, BP's Moscow filling station chain, and a blocking package belonging to Shalva Chigirinsky were all not included in TNK-BP Holding. After the second stage of restructuring, TNK-BP announced that it would continue to consolidate its production assets, although it had no immediate plans for that.

TNK-BP became Russia's third largest oil company, employing almost 100,000 people and operating in nearly all of Russia's major hydrocarbon regions.

Obstacles and conflicts

Prior to the partial TNK acquisition by BP, TNK had aggressively seized several assets from another BP joint venture, wrote "The Economist" in May 2007, speculating that greater pressure might be applied by government-owned entities, such as the Gazprom Neft. [cite web |url=http://www.economist.com/agenda/displaystory.cfm?story_id=9230300 |title=Gazprom strikes again? |last=Economist Intelligence Unit |date=2007-05-24 |work=EIU ViewsWire |publisher=Economist.com ]

On 12th June 2008, in Stockholm, Peter Sutherland, the BP chairman, lamented Russia's prime minister Vladimir Putin's lack of action to prevent the AAR group of Russian shareholders, who he viewed as oligarchs, from using strong-arm tactics to try to take control of TNK-BP, saying: "This is just a return to the corporate raiding activities that were prevalent in Russia in the 1990s. Prime minister Putin has referred to these tactics as relics of the 1990s, but unfortunately our partners continue to use them." [ [http://www.guardian.co.uk/business/2008/jun/13/bp.russia BP ups stakes by accusing Putin of failing to stop hijack by oligarchs] by Terry Macalister The Guardian June 13 2008.] [ [http://www.ft.com/cms/s/0/bce7f4e4-38ba-11dd-8aed-0000779fd2ac.html?nclick_check=1 BP considers route out of Russian minefield] FT.com June 12 2008.]

On 6 July 2008, The Sunday Times reportedcite web
last =Dey
first =Iain
title =BP Russian feud moves to UK court. Oil giant sues billionaires in battle to run joint venture, alleging it is owed £180m
work =The Sunday Times
publisher =Timesonline
date =2008-07-06
url = http://business.timesonline.co.uk/tol/business/industry_sectors/natural_resources/article4276186.ece
format =Article
doi =
accessdate =2008-07-06 ] that BP was suing its Russian partners - Mikhail Fridman, Viktor Vekselberg, Leonard Blavatnik (who is, in fact, a US passport holder) and German Khan - in the High Court in London over a $360m (£180m) tax claim lodged on 30th June; the latter alleged that BP was owed the sum under the terms of an agreement that had been struck at the creation of the TNK-BP joint venture in 2003. The four billionaires were reported to be planning to fight the claim with the spokesman for their holding company, AAR, describing the figure quoted in the writ as "inflated”".

On 4th September 2008, the parties to the corporate conflict signed a five-page memorandum of understanding, which Tony Hayward, BP's chief executive, described as "a very sensible and pragmatic way of looking forward." [http://www.ft.com/cms/s/0/23a1bda6-7ae1-11dd-adbe-000077b07658.html Strained relations thaw over TNK-BP] Financial Times 5 сентября 2008 г.] BP managed to retain the 50-50% split.

References

External links

* [http://www.tnk-bp.com TNK-BP official website]
* [http://www.tnk-bp.ru TNK-BP official website]