Board row delays TNK-BP vote again

The TNK-BP board voted yesterday to postpone a decision on the proposal that it should buy into BP's $10bn (£6.2bn) share-swap with Russian rival Rosneft.

At the instigation of one of the joint venture's four BP-nominated directors and one of the three independent directors, the vote on the TNK-BP's management's plan for a three-way share purchase agreement will now be decided on 12 March.

TNK-BP's Russian oligarch backers – who own the group 50/50 with BP – believe the BP/Rosneft deal violates an agreement for both sides to do all business in Russia through TNK-BP. The vote has already been delayed once, after the BP-nominated directors failed to turn up.