Visa problems hit British in Russian oil venture row: Reports
Top managers at troubled British-Russian oil company TNK-BP could be forced to leave Russia starting next week due to problems renewing their visas, Russian newspapers reported on Tuesday.
By Agencies |
MOSCOW: Top managers at troubled British-Russian oil company TNK-BP could be forced to leave Russia starting next week due to problems renewing their visas, Russian newspapers reported on Tuesday.
A source close to TNK-BP told the business daily Vedomosti that nine top managers of the firm would be forced to leave Russia next week, while the daily Kommersant put the number at 10.
Kommersant said the visas of all remaining foreign staff of TNK-BP, a joint venture between Britain's BP and Russian industrialists, would expire by the end of July.
It described the problems as another blow to the British side in the dispute over Russia's third-largest oil producer, in which Russian shareholders are trying to take control and oust company president Robert Dudley.
"TNK-BP's Russian shareholders are close to receiving operational control over the company," Kommersant said, although Vedomosti cautioned that many of the problems could still be solved from outside the country.
The problems had arisen due to contradictory visa requests, as an acting director close to the Russian shareholders had requested 63 visas for foreign staff while management loyal to BP had tried to annul that request and seek 150 visas, both papers reported.
The struggle is the latest effort to usurp foreign control over major Russian energy assets. Moscow opened up the sector in the 1990s, seeking outside help to revive an industry crumbling due to bad management and low investment.
The Russian side in the TNK-BP dispute -- Alfa Group, Access Industries and Renova (AAR)-- says BP is treating TNK-BP as a subsidiary and obstructing its overseas expansion.
"Russia has enough talented and experienced engineers and managers, and we want to further the qualifications of specifically Russian experts," the consortium's executive director Stan Polovets said as quoted in the AAR's statement.
"AAR supports using foreign staff, but insists that they be employees of TNK-BP, and not BP, and worked not only in Moscow but in key regional offices and oil-producing divisions," he added.
In mid-June BP chairman Robert Sutherland accused the Russian shareholders of returning to "corporate raiding activities that were prevalent in Russia in the 1990s."
A source close to TNK-BP told the business daily Vedomosti that nine top managers of the firm would be forced to leave Russia next week, while the daily Kommersant put the number at 10.
Kommersant said the visas of all remaining foreign staff of TNK-BP, a joint venture between Britain's BP and Russian industrialists, would expire by the end of July.
It described the problems as another blow to the British side in the dispute over Russia's third-largest oil producer, in which Russian shareholders are trying to take control and oust company president Robert Dudley.
"TNK-BP's Russian shareholders are close to receiving operational control over the company," Kommersant said, although Vedomosti cautioned that many of the problems could still be solved from outside the country.
The problems had arisen due to contradictory visa requests, as an acting director close to the Russian shareholders had requested 63 visas for foreign staff while management loyal to BP had tried to annul that request and seek 150 visas, both papers reported.
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The struggle is the latest effort to usurp foreign control over major Russian energy assets. Moscow opened up the sector in the 1990s, seeking outside help to revive an industry crumbling due to bad management and low investment.
The Russian side in the TNK-BP dispute -- Alfa Group, Access Industries and Renova (AAR)-- says BP is treating TNK-BP as a subsidiary and obstructing its overseas expansion.
"Russia has enough talented and experienced engineers and managers, and we want to further the qualifications of specifically Russian experts," the consortium's executive director Stan Polovets said as quoted in the AAR's statement.
"AAR supports using foreign staff, but insists that they be employees of TNK-BP, and not BP, and worked not only in Moscow but in key regional offices and oil-producing divisions," he added.
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In mid-June BP chairman Robert Sutherland accused the Russian shareholders of returning to "corporate raiding activities that were prevalent in Russia in the 1990s."
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