A group of minority shareholders in BP's Russian venture said they are suing the British company for 87 billion rubles ($3 billion) for damages they allege resulted from the collapse of its alliance with Rosneft.
TNK-BP, the traded unit of the venture, could have gained profits of that magnitude from the growth in Rosneft's share value if the company had been allowed to replace BP in a deal to swap shares and explore the Arctic with Rosneft, the group led by Andrei Prokhorov said Wednesday in an e-mailed statement.
BP's plan for a $7.8 billion share swap and exploration alliance with Russia's biggest oil explorer collapsed after its billionaire partners in TNK-BP blocked the deal in a Stockholm tribunal, claiming that it violated a shareholders agreement.
The shareholders' claim was filed with the Tyumen Arbitration Court in Siberia, and hearings will take place Sept. 21 and Oct. 12, court filings show.
(Bloomberg)
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