By Alexis Flynn
LONDON--BP PLC (BP.LN) has agreed to pay its partners in the
TNK-BP joint venture $325 million as part of a wide-ranging
settlement deal announced earlier Tuesday, a person familiar with
the matter said.
Long-fractious relations between the U.K. oil giant and the
group of Soviet-born billionaires behind the Alfa Access Renova
consortium appeared to have been soothed with both sets of
shareholders announcing a "comprehensive agreement" to settle all
disputes between them, including protracted arbitrations brought by
each side against the other.
Both BP and AAR declined to comment on whether any payments were
made in respect of the settlement.
However, the deal included a payment of $325 million by BP to
AAR, the person said. It isn't yet clear whether part or all of
money has been paid, or whether the payment still has to be
made.
The settlement ends years of tensions between the partners and
paves the way for a multi-billion-dollar buyout of both sets of
shareholders by Russian state-owned behemoth OAO Rosneft (ROSN.RS).
BP and AAR had been mired in litigation since last January, when
AAR blocked BP's proposed deal with Rosneft to explore the
Arctic.
Write to Alexis Flynn at alexis.flynn@dowjones.com
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