RUSSIA’S ROSNEFT vowed to push ahead with a strategic alliance with BP, despite a block on the deal by the British oil company’s partners in joint venture TNK-BP.

Rosneft chairman Igor Sechin said an arbitration panel ruling preventing BP and the state-controlled energy giant from jointly exploring Russia’s Arctic region and from executing a $16 billion share swap did not void the deal.

“The court didn’t block [the deal], it extended the injunction until April 7th. We must await the court’s verdict,” Mr Sechin, also deputy prime minister, told reporters yesterday.

Mr Sechin argued Rosneft had suffered losses as a result of the actions by BP’s TNK-BP partners Access-Renova (AAR), which pursued court action against the BP-Rosneft tie-up, arguing the alliance violated their right of refusal.

He said Russia’s largest oil company was “satisfied” with BP as its partner and would defend its interests. However, Stan Polovets, AAR’s chief executive, said that although BP had requested another tribunal hearing on April 4th to argue that it should be allowed to swap its shares with Rosneft without carrying out any joint projects together, this would not alter the situation.

“This is not a temporary injunction with a predetermined ‘expiration date’. We don’t expect anything to change in the foreseeable future, not on April 4th, not on December 4th,” he said.

AAR, which represents BP’s billionaire partners in TNK-BP, had hailed Thursday’s ruling as a victory in their bid to prevent BP linking up with Rosneft.

AAR said BP was now “prohibited from entering into any future share arrangement with Rosneft that has any kind of strategic component”, potentially opening the door for a rival to step in and replace BP as Rosneft’s exploration partner. – (Reuters)