OIL giant BP moved closer to salvaging a proposed tie-up with Russian government-owned Rosneft after appeasing a group of angered shareholders.
BP will hand over Arctic exploration rights, included in the original deal, to existing Russian joint venture TNK-BP to secure an £8bn swap with Rosneft.
The move comes amid a fierce arbitration process between BP and its partners, a consortium called Alfa Access Renova, who accused BP of breaching its obligations with TNK-BP.
Rosneft must now approve the handover of the Arctic opportunity – as well as a technical amendment of the share swap terms – for the revised deal to go ahead.
