Russia: BP, AAR Agree on TNK-BP Management Restructuring

TNK-BP shareholders Alfa, Access, Renova (AAR) and BP have agreed a number of decisions regarding senior management roles at TNK-BP. It is expected that these decisions will be formally approved by the Board of Directors and implemented before the close of the current year. The decisions reflect the shared commitment of the joint-venture partners to the continued success and development of TNK-BP.

The shareholders have agreed to form a new management committee that will run TNK-BP on a day-to-day basis. This will consist of four executive directors along with the chief executive officer and chief financial officer.

The new management committee will consist of:

*Mikhail Fridman, who will continue to serve as the CEO and Executive Chairman of TNK-BP for the calendar years 2012 and 2013, when BP will nominate a CEO to succeed Fridman.

*Jonathan Muir, who will continue as Chief Financial Officer (CFO) and will be responsible for coordinating the work of the management committee.

*Viktor Vekselberg and German Khan, who will continue as AAR-nominated executive directors.

*Alexander Dodds, who will serve as the BP-nominated executive director responsible for upstream activities. He was previously the head of ExxonMobil’s business in Qatar, with considerable experience of both onshore and offshore oil and gas operations around the world.

A BP-nominated executive director responsible for downstream activities has been agreed and will be the subject of a future announcement.

Following Maxim Barskiy’s departure from the company, as announced last week, the position of deputy CEO will be abolished.

Stan Polovets, CEO of AAR, said: “We are very pleased to announce the strengthening of TNK-BP’s management team by injecting fresh talent into the organisation, while at the same time maintaining stability at the CEO level. TNK-BP has performed exceptionally well under Mikhail Fridman’s leadership during the past two years, and we are confident that Alexander Dodds and the new head of downstream nominated by BP will help take our company to an even higher level of performance and efficiency.”

Jeremy Huck, President of BP Russia said: “We welcome this agreement which clarifies the composition and structure of the management team. We look forward to many more years of growth for the benefit of Russia and TNK-BP’s shareholders.”

Since its inception in 2003, TNK-BP has been a remarkably successful venture for Russia and for its shareholders, AAR and BP, consistently delivering high returns as the third-largest Russian oil company. During this period, AAR and BP have received $34bn in dividends from TNK-BP. In 2010, TNK-BP increased production of oil and gas by 3.1 per cent and replaced 134 per cent of its reserves.

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Source:BP , October 24, 2011;