BP sees off TNK-BP shareholder claim as it sets out new strategy
MINORITY shareholders in Anglo-Russian oil firm TNK-BP are withdrawing a 100bn rouble (£2.01bn) damages suit against BP after the main stakeholders agreed last month to sell their stakes to Russia’s Rosneft.
A Siberian court in July awarded the damages against the British oil major in a case brought by a group of minority shareholders in TNK-BP’s listed unit TNK-BP Holding. BP appealed against the verdict.
The case stemmed from BP’s failed attempt last year to forge a partnership with state oil major Rosneft, which fell apart after it was blocked in the courts by AAR, a consortium that represents four billionaire co-owners of TNK-BP.
Separately, BP said it is raising investment and betting its future on oil over gas, in its first strategy update since striking a series of deals aimed at getting its Russian and US operations back on track.
The shake-up in Russia involves the sale of its 50 per cent holding in TNK-BP and a tie-up with Rosneft.
The company said it would raise capital spending, excluding acquisitions, to between $24bn and $27bn a year in the years 2014 to 2020, from an estimated $22bn in 2012 and $19.1bn in 2011.
Next year and in 2014, spending will average between $24bn and $25bn, BP told analysts yesterday.