TNK-BP to push for role in Rosneft deal

The management of BP's Russian joint venture, TNK-BP, is to recommend today that the company push for a role in the UK energy giant's tie-up with Russian rival Rosneft.

The AAR consortium that owns TNK-BP 50/50 with BP has launched a legal challenge to the BP-Rosneft deal on the grounds that it violates the JV's shareholder agreement.

But having received the details of the deal from BP, TNK-BP's management thinks it is a major opportunity for the JV, and at a board meeting in Paris today it will ask the board to sanction the group's inclusion in the deal.

The recommendation will not go to a vote today, but is expected to be the subject of an extraordinary meeting next week.

BP has questioned the potential for a role for TNK-BP in a deal focused on offshore exploration because the company does not have the relevant experience. But chief executive Bob Dudley said earlier this month that he was not against a role for the Russian joint venture in principle.