Financial Times: Focus on TNK-BP partnership as chief quits

Never a match made in heaven, BP’s partnership with the Russian oligarchs of AAR is on the rocks. And to hear AAR tell it, it is time to call the divorce lawyers.

The two 50:50 shareholders in TNK-BP, one of Russia’s largest oil producers, are at an impasse. The company’s board has not met since two independent directors quit last December. Last week, the board postponed a dividend.

Now Mikhail Fridman, head of Alfa Group and de factor leader of AAR, is quitting as TNK-BP’s chief executive, putting a question mark over the future of a company that accounts for 29 per cent of BP’s production.  MORE (Registration required)