Ready to meet: the TNK-BP board
TNK-BP board gets set to meet
The TNK-BP board was due to meet in Paris today in the wake of a row that row led to the departure of its chief executive Robert Dudley.
Dudley resigned from the Russian producer last week following a protracted struggle between the company's UK and Russian shareholders. TNK-BP is a 50:50 joint venture between UK supermajor BP and Alfa Access-Renova, a vehicle representing four Russian billionaires.
However, the job of finding Dudley's replacement was not on the official agenda for today's talks at the Hotel Crillon, acting chief executive Tim Summers told Reuters.
"The (chief executive officer) replacement is not on the agenda for tomorrow. We will be discussing the business plan for 2009," he told the news agency.
He said TNK-BP was likely to trim investments.
"The macroeconomic environment is in a very different place from where it was six months ago, so our activity needs to reflect the external world."
The board meeting was scheduled to start around 1230 GMT, he said. A statement will be issued afterwards.
BP-appointed Dudley was TNK-BP's founding chief executive and left on 1 December after five years at the company's helm.
His resignation was the main component of a truce reached last summer between shareholders after a battle in which BP accused their Russian partners of behaving like raiders.