"Extremely surprised"

Russian shareholders of TNK-BP are perplexed why BP began to sue them

British BP filed a lawsuit against Russian partners in TNK-BP, who own half of the joint company - Alfa Petroleum Holding Ltd. (represents the interests of Alfa Group) and OGIP Ventures Ltd. (represents Access Industries of Leonard Blavatnik and Renova of Viktor Vekselberg). She demands compensation of 8.4 billion rubles. (almost $360 million), which TNK-BP paid by paying off tax debt for the period before 2003, that is, before the creation of the joint company . Thus, BP for the first time actively showed itself in the current conflict between TNK-BP shareholders , which is associated with the struggle for control over the holding.

As BP representative Vladimir Buyanov says, when TNK-BP was created, its shareholders agreed (and signed an agreement on tax guarantees) that the company itself would bear liability for risks that arose before its creation, but if the risk was associated with the assets of TNK, then BP receives compensation for the entire amount from Russian shareholders of TNK-BP, and vice versa. TNK-BP, according to him, repaid 8.4 billion rubles. tax authorities on claims before 2003. In March, August and December last year, corresponding demands for compensation were sent to Russian partners, but they were not satisfied. Therefore, on June 30, a corresponding claim was filed in the High Court of London. Until now, Mr. Buyanov says, in such situations, Russian shareholders paid compensation as a matter of routine.

The Alfa/Access/Renova (AAR) consortium, in turn, released a statement yesterday that about $500 million was paid to BP as part of an agreement on tax guarantees. However, the amount that BP wants to compensate now is considered by the Russian shareholders of TNK-BP to be too high and intend to challenge it. “Over the past 12 months, we have been in discussions with BP to determine the exact amounts that AAR must pay BP, and BP must pay AAR under the agreement,” Stan Polovets, the consortium's chief executive, said in a statement. -- Numerous written and oral negotiations were held on this issue, and relevant proposals were made in order to find consensus regarding the obligations of the parties under the tax guarantee agreement. “We are extremely surprised that, instead of trying to resolve this issue through negotiations, BP decided to bring a claim in London court, the amount of which is extremely inflated.”

TNK-BP confirmed to Vremya Novostey that the company paid tax debts on claims relating to the period of operation before 2003, as part of total tax claims amounting to more than $ 2 billion, but about the details (what share of claims accounted for assets contributed in BP, and which one - for the assets of TNK) they did not say.

Today, the conflict between shareholders will continue: at a meeting of the board of directors, Russian shareholders of TNK-BP will demand the resignation of the company's president, Robert Dudley, who represents the interests of BP. However, it is not clear how this can be done if neither side has an advantage in votes.

Nikolay GORELOV