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Dudley and staff face permit problems


News wires

The head of BP's Russian oil venture TNK-BP may have to leave Russia within weeks, at least temporarily, due to work permit problems as a corporate row escalates at the company, a source said today.

"Everybody, including (chief executive) Bob (Dudley) and (chief financial officer) James Owen will have to be out of here unless a quick solution is found," a person with direct knowledge of the situation at TNK-BP told Reuters.

"It is a pure formality and the Russian government is creating a problem for themselves," the source said.

BP and its partners, four Russian billionaires, have been locked in a dispute over the company's strategy and management tactics for several months.

The Russian shareholders are determined to limit Dudley's influence in the company and have already filed lawsuits to reverse last week's election of a nine-seat board of TNK-BP's traded unit, TNK-BP Holding. They say five out of nine members, who were nominated by Dudley, represent the interests of BP.

Sources with knowledge of the situation at TNK-BP said yesterday that billionaire German Khan, one of the Russian shareholders and a TNK-BP executive director, had requested to the authorities in a private letter that the quota of international specialists at TNK-BP be lowered to 63.

This move was not agreed with BP or Dudley, they added.

Dudley had applied to the Moscow authorities to extend working permits for a total of 146 international specialists at TNK-BP but the city yesterday only cleared the request for 71.

The source said Dudley, Owen and the majority of other top managers were within the approved quota.

"But it will take at least six weeks to sort out the visa and working permit issues, so they are already running out of time. Everyone will have to leave Russia within a week or by the end of the month," the source said.

Dudley's visa expires on 30 July. Owen's visa expires this week. Vice president for strategy Kris Sliger and vice president for technology Richard Herbert will also have to leave.


Tuesday, 01 July, 2008, 11:33 GMT  | last updated: Tuesday, 01 July, 2008, 11:36 GMT

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