Russia hits back over oil tycoon Mikhail Khodorkovsky

[David Guyatt]

Crooks squabble continues...

http://www.guardian.co.uk/business/2011/...s-dividend

Court order halts BP talks with Rosneft

TNK-BP partners succeed gaining injunction
BP makes first annual loss since 1992
Firm sets aside $41bn to cover spill costs
Half US refining capacity, including Texas City, to be sold
Fourth-quarter dividend of 7 cents in line with expectations

Tim Webb and Tom Bawden
guardian.co.uk, Tuesday 1 February 2011 20.18 GMT


Workers in Louisiana clear oil from beaches after the explosion of BP's Deepwater Horizon rig Photograph: Stuart Franklin/Stuart Franklin/Magnum Photos

BP was today forced to put on hold its controversial new alliance with Kremlin-controlled oil company Rosneft after its rival Russian partners won an injunction against the proposed deal.

After a day of drama in the high court, the billionaire oligarchs who own half of BP's existing TNK-BP Russian joint venture, won an injunction preventing the UK oil major from completing its share swap with Rosneft. It is also banned from continuing negotiations about forming a joint venture to explore the Russian Arctic together.

BP will now start formal arbitration proceedings in Sweden within days in an attempt to resolve the dispute with the billionaires' AAR consortium.

BP's new chief executive Bob Dudley, who earlier today announced that BP would resume dividend payments for the first time since the Gulf of Mexico spill, suggested TNK-BP could still be offered a role in its new Rosneft alliance: "We were always intending to offer them the opportunity. There may be a resolution, a financial or strategic decision for TNK-BP."

But the court injunction, coming a day after AAR voted to withhold TNK-BP's $1.8bn (£1.1bn) dividend in protest over the Rosneft deal, has dealt a major blow to Dudley's attempts to remould BP.

The injunction applies until 25 February. If arbitration, a procedure outlined in BP's shareholder agreement with AAR, does not resolve the dispute, the Russian oligarchs plan to apply for an extension to the injunction. Stan Povolets, chief executive of AAR, said that the court decision "confirms the moral and legal justification of our position".

AAR claims that the Rosneft alliance contravenes its shareholder agreement which it says requires BP to offer TNK-BP first refusal on any business opportunities in Russia.

The developments overshadowed BP's annual results, which were also unveiled today. The company announced a loss of $4.9bn for the year, its first loss for 19 years because of the Gulf spill costs. The estimated cost of the spill has risen by $1bn to $40.9bn.

BP also said it would restore a dividend payout. However, the fourth-quarter payment will be 7¢ a share, half the level before last April's Gulf spill. Because BP and Rosneft have not completed the share swap, neither will be entitled to receive each other's dividends.

Dudley said that BP would sell half its refining capacity in the US as the company focuses on exploration. The refineries to be sold are Carson in California and Texas City, where 15 workers died in an explosion in 2005. He also scrapped BP's old production targets, saying the company would focus on "quality not quantity".

At a press conference Dudley attempted to downplay the dispute with AAR.

"We have and we are going to meet all our obligations in the shareholder agreement. I've said let's go for arbitration as fast track as you like. I continue to think this is a commercial matter which will be resolved in a business way."

Dudley admitted that AAR was "very surprised" when the share swap with Rosneft was announced, the details of which had to be kept secret because they were share price sensitive, he said. He added that details of the Rosneft alliance were sent to AAR last Thursday almost two weeks after the deal was unveiled.

Sources close to AAR said tonight that the documents contained no new information beyond what BP had already disclosed to the market.

Dudley added that TNK-BP, which accounts for about a quarter of BP's total production, did not have the skills or expertise for offshore drilling. It is thought that the agreement with Rosneft gives BP two years to hold exclusive negotiations with the Russian company about exploring the Arctic.

Dudley also responded to leaked US embassy cables, published by the Guardian, which reported that BP's top executive in Russia predicted that the TNK-BP subsidiary would be carved up by the end of this year by Rosneft and fellow state controlled energy company Gazprom: "I do not have those fears. All I can promise is my belief that that won't happen."

Dudley said that BP was seeking "new kinds of relationships" with national oil companies with access to large oil and gas reserves. He pointed out that international oil companies like BP now only had access to 9% of the world's oil and gas reserves compared to 90% in 1970. "The role of an international oil company [IOC] is taking technical know how … and working with NOCs [national oil companies]. If an IOC can't do that it does not have a future."

He denied that alliances such as the Rosneft deal exposed BP to new and greater political risk. "We have a partnership with a state controlled company Rosneft. Some people may say that is not a basis for risk. There are lots of risky countries where oil companies operate."

He also added that the company would continue to pump more oil than gas which would distinguish it from rivals like Shell which will soon be producing more gas. The International Energy Agency says that "big oil" companies are having to reinvent themselves as gas producers because many governments are denying them access to develop their oil resources.

Gulf legacy ever present

BP's latest Russian adventure has at least shifted some of the attention away from last April's Gulf of Mexico disaster. But the legacy remains ever present, despite Dudley's attempts to draw a line under the affair that led to his taking charge after the departure of Tony Hayward.

Today, Dudley committed BP to spending more on deep water exploration, including in the Arctic. Asked if this was appropriate, given the Deepwater Horizon explosion, Dudley said BP would be "irresponsible" not to apply the lessons it says it has learned.

"After the events of the Gulf of Mexico spill, BP has a choice of stepping back and saying 'we lose confidence and we lose the ability to operate this [deep water] technology'," he said. "We do not think this is right. We think it would be even irresponsible not to take these lessons into the company's operations and into other companies around the world."

The number of barrels of oil that spewed into the Gulf also remains to be resolved. Tony Hayward got into hot water when the Guardian reported his comments that the amount was "relatively tiny" in relation to the "very big ocean".

The US government later released an estimate from scientists of 4.9m barrels, which would make it the world's largest offshore accidental spill. BP is contesting this number.

Dudley said BP believes the amount of oil flowing rose as the company removed debris in the attempt to cap the well. "No one exactly knows what the estimate of the spill will be," he said. BP would need to examine the blow-out preventer to get a more definite answer. If the official estimate is reduced, the fines on BP partly on a per-barrel basis will be reduced.