TNK-BP chief executive Robert Dudley may be persuaded to step down under a potential
TNK-BP chief executive Robert Dudley may be persuaded to step down under a potential compromise being negotiated by leading players in the shareholder dispute at BP PLC's flagship Russian investment, the Wall Street Journal reported.
BP Chief Executive Tony Hayward and Mikhail Fridman, a Russian shareholder in TNK-BP, met in Prague on Wednesday and further talks are expected in the next week or so, it quoted people close to the venture as saying.
Sources on both sides of the dispute told the newspaper a solution might well involve Dudley stepping down in exchange for the right deal.
This would be a major concession on the part of BP, which has continued to back Dudley after he was forced to leave Russia last week complaining of "sustained harassment," and said he is running the company from an undisclosed Central European location.
BP might also be willing to restructure TNK-BP's profit-sharing agreements to sweeten the deal for Russian shareholders, one person close to TNK-BP added.
