Russian Partners of TNK-BP Want to Buy Out BP

 BP and its oligarch partners are locked in a public battle over control of TNK-BP, Russia's third largest oil producer. "We would be interested but it's a hypothetical question as BP does not want to sell," Stan Polovets, chief executive of the Alfa-Access-Renova (AAR) consortium representing the Russian co-owners, said in a telephone interview.

The Russian partners have said in the past two months that they would rather increase than decrease their holding in TNK-BP, despite having asked BP for a proposal to buy them out earlier this year.

Polovets added the partners had not tabled any proposal to BP to buy out their 50 percent in the venture. A BP spokesman said: "We are not interested in selling."  Both met in Cyprus last week and despite saying that the discussions were cordial, the partners failed to agree on the company's future strategy and management control.

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