At the time, no-one told me personally or Rosneft about any mutual obligations to TNK-BP.
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Indeed, the core reason why Rosneft wanted to regain TNK-BP assets was precisely for brownfield sites.
However, the deal conflicted with provisions included as a part of the TNK-BP agreement.
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The reinstatement was announced despite active opposition by the investors in TNK-BP in Russia.
Importantly, though, BP receives a way out of its strained relations with its TNK-BP parnters.
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The TNK-BP deal has attracted more column inches than any other deal this year.
"You should see the map of TNK and Rosneft assets, " Mr. Dudley tells me.
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Gazprom claims that TNK-BP is not addressing the gas needs of the region's population.
As well as internal wrangles, BP employees at TNK-BP have fallen foul of Russian authorities.
As everyone knows, the never ending TNK-BP relationship is broken, with zero prospect of recovery.
No doubt the Kremlin needed to increases its TNK-BP rent given growing fiscal pressures in Moscow.
TNK-BP is one of the few oil companies remaining in Russia that does not have government ownership.
The purchase of TNK-BP gives the Russian government control of roughly one-third of oil production in Russia.
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TNK-BP is jointly owned by Alfa Access Renova (AAR) and BP, after a deal struck in 2003.
TNK-BP, the Russian sister company of BP, is even vying for Libyan contracts--competing directly with the British giant.
The report noted that among energy companies, TNK shares displayed both attractive valuation metrics and strong profitability metrics.
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Another contentious issue, the number of expatriate BP employees at TNK-BP, has also been resolved to their liking.
Below is a long-term dividend history chart for TNK, which Dividend Channel stressed as being of key importance.
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Investment bank Goldman Sachs estimates that, excluding TNK-BP, production will have fallen by 3% in 2005 from 2004.
This included Mr Dudley, who since late July has tried to direct TNK-BP from a secret location abroad.
The British supermajor could not convince its partners in another Russian venture with TNK to approve the Rosneft deal.
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However, TNK-BP has been a major success for BP in terms of production.
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Mr Fridman pulled strings, Gazprom disengaged and Mr Dudley, then the chief executive of TNK-BP, had to flee Russia.
As well as the sale of its TNK-BP stake, BP also sold its Texas City refinery in the first quarter.
If the TNK-BP deal goes through, it will be the largest in the industry since Exxon bought Mobil in 1999.
Now the penny has dropped that the pending TNK-BP sale is far more about the Russian state rather than St.
But his request was contradicted by Viktor Vekselberg, a TNK-BP director and one of the three tycoons who own AAR.
At a hearing on the subject in Moscow last week, two different delegations showed up, both claiming to represent TNK-BP.
Item five on the agenda will be "approval of related party transactions" - a possible reference to the TNK-BP deal.
Both the British oil giant and the oligarch-owned AAR want to sell their 50% stakes in Russian oil giant TNK- BP.
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