RUSSIAN billionaires who own the TNK-BP oil venture with BP Plc, Europe's second-largest crude producer, want to buy the UK company's 50-percent stake to end a struggle for control.
Russia's AAR, owned by billionaires Viktor Vekselberg, Mikhail Fridman, German Khan and Len Blavatnik, already owns half of TNK-BP and is prepared to buy the rest, Stan Polovets, the group's chief executive officer, said on Monday in an interview with Bloomberg News in New York.
BP, which gets a quarter of its oil reserves and 20 percent of its output from the venture, has clashed with its Russian partners over management of TNK-BP. AAR has sought to oust TNK-BP CEO Robert Dudley, saying he has put BP's interests ahead of the venture's.
"This is a continuation of the struggle for control of the British share," said Ariel Cohen, an expert on Russia and energy at the Heritage Foundation in Washington. "The real question is: Who is going to be ultimate owner of BP's stake?"
The Russian shareholders could wind up selling the stake to state-owned OAO Gazprom Neft, an affiliate of OAO Gazprom, he said.