The Russian conglomerate AAR is planning a billion- dollar law suit against British oil multinational BP because of its planned cooperation with another Russian oil-firm, according to Russian business daily Kommersant, dpa reported.
AAR, a group representing Russian billionaire partners in TNK-BP, a joint-venture Russian partner of BP, claims that BP's planned cooperation with Rosneft violates the terms of their own agreement.
AAR (Alfa-Access-Renova) says that TNK-BP's shareholder agreement prohibits both parties from taking part in ventures with other Russian oil and gas companies without prior consent from the joint board of directors, dpa reported.
The billionaires' group - made up of Mikhail Fridman, Viktor Vekselberg, German Khan and Leonard Blavatnik - now wants up to 10- billion-dollars worth of compensation from BP and state-owned oil giant Rosneft.
BP and Rosneft had agreed in January to swap 7.6 billion-dollars- worth of shares each and enter a "strategic cooperation" in the development of Arctic oilfields.
An arbitration tribunal in Stockholm has put a temporary stop to the plans, while the deadline for the share-swap runs out on Thursday.