Gazprom ready to join Russian-British TNK-BP: Gazprom official

Russian state energy monopoly Gazprom would consider joining the Russian-British oil group TNK-BP once a shareholder conflict within TNK-BP is resolved, a Gazprom official said here on Tuesday.

• “Our shareholders said a year ago that if shares (in TNK-BP) were put up for sale, Gazprom would consider a possible purchase,” Alexander Medvedev, Gazprom executive committee vice chairman, told reporters during a European business conference.
• “For the moment there is a conflict among the shareholders in the company (TNK-BP),” he said, adding that “after the conflict is settled” Gazprom would reconsider its position.
• TNK-BP is jointly controlled by British oil major BP on one hand and three Russian financiers, Viktor Vekselberg, Mikhail Fridman and Len Blavatnik, on the other.
• The trio is currently pressing for the removal of TNK-BP chief executive Robert Dudley, whom they accuse of being partial to BP.
• The dispute has fueled speculation that Gazprom might eventually acquire 50 percent of TNK-BP, which would give the Russian state access to vast oil resources. TNK-BP is Russia’s third largest crude producer.
• But on Sunday a Russian government source said participation by Gazprom in TNK-BP was not “desirable” and predicted that the internal conflict would soon be settled.