MOSCOW — Oil company PB PLC plans to sell its share in a huge Siberian gas field to state-owned Rosneftegaz after years of official pressure, the co-owner of BP’s Russian joint venture told a Russian news agency Tuesday.
Viktor Vekselberg told RIA-Novosti that TNK-BP will sell its share in the Kovykta field for up to $900 million, and the deal could be finalized by late 2010.
"No emergent steps will be taken, so the general tension is over," Vekselberg was quoted as saying.
As the Kremlin launched a barrage of probes against TNK-BP in recent years, ranging from labor checks to tax claims, BP accused the Russian owners, including Vekselberg, of using corporate raider tactics to try and wrest control of the joint venture.
Last month, Vekselberg told Russian President Dmitry Medvedev that the probe into Kovykta’s license agreement only dents investment climate in Russia.
TNK-BP said it invested $664 million in developing Kovykta, one of the world’s largest undeveloped gas fields which contains about 2 trillion cu. meters of gas reserves.
TNK-BP came under heavy official pressure in 2007, when government regulators said it was not meeting production targets at the giant gas field in Siberia and threatened to withdraw its license.
TNK-BP originally planned to send Kovykta’s gas to China and South Korea but these plans were hampered when Gazprom became Russia’s monopolist gas exporter in 2006.
The company tried to sell it to Gazprom for about $1 billion, but the deal was never completed.
