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BP Leaves Russia
BP has withdrawn from Russia all experts employed at TNK-BP till March, 148 people overall. The cancellation of their contracts is one of demands of Russia’s holders of the venture – each of technical specialists cost $1 million a year to TNK-BP.
BP announced yesterday it is withdrawing 60 remaining technical specialists from Russia that had worked at TNK-BP till March. There had been 148 experts overall, but the better part of them had left the country already to be redeployed in the global business of BP, for instance, in Azerbaijan, in the Middle East or in the Gulf of Mexico.
The technical specialists had worked in TNK-BP as secondees. BP recalled most of them in March in the wake of the visa claims presented by the RF Federal Migration Service. The secondees were granted business visas instead of the labor ones. What’s more, some Tetlis Co filed a suit to Tyumen Arbitration Court in May and the latter banned employment of secondees at TNK-BP as security.
Of interest is that Tetlis had become a holder of TNK-BP not long before going to law, its managers had previously worked for the firms of Alfa Group, the member of AAR Consortium that has 50 percent in TNK-BP. Alfa Group denied any involvement in Tetlis suit.
One of TNK-BP co-owners and its executive director Viktor Vekselberg told Kommersant in June that they would join the Tetlis suit but do it in Stockholm. AAR hasn’t presented the suit yet, its representatives said yesterday, pointing out they haven’t abandoned the intention. According to sources with AAR, they urged BP to step up the strength of the foreign staff, but use specialists as employees rather than secondees, each of whom is said to cost roughly $1 million a year to the venture.
The court hasn’t decided on Tetlis action yet, but the ban on foreign expert employment was lifted past week. Regardless, BP preferred not to summon their secondees back to Russia. The trial is very slow and will hardly end in the nearest future.
www.kommersant.com
All the Article in Russian as of July 23, 2008
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