NOVO-ORAGYOVO, Russia, January 28 (RIA Novosti) - The Russian government will not interfere in a conflict between BP, which has recently struck a $16 billion deal with the country's top oil firm Rosneft, and its local joint venture TNK-BP, which claims that the deal broke a shareholder agreement between the partners, Dmitry Peskov, a spokesman for Prime Minister Vladimir Putin said on Friday.
"It is a corporate dispute, but it is unclear if it is a (real) dispute. It belongs to the sphere of corporate relations and it is not on government agenda at the moment," Peskov said.
On Thursday, a BP official said the company had received notice of a suit filed by Russia's Alfa-Access-Renova consortium, which holds a 50% stake in TNK-BP, to suspend the deal with state-controlled Rosneft to jointly develop the Arctic shelf and to swap shares.
BP said it respected an earlier TNK-BP shareholder agreement, which said the British oil major would develop its business in Russia within the joint venture, when it signed the deal with Rosneft.
Peskov also said the government welcomed BP-Rosneft asset swap plans: "We believe it will help create a synergy effect."
