Russia Offers BP Chief a Seat on Rosneft Board

Russia has offered BP chief executive Bob Dudley a seat on the board of directors of state-controlled oil company Rosneft, in which BP is soon to raise its stake, a decree signed by Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev showed on Friday.

State-owned Rosneft is buying TNK-BP for $55 billion from its 50-50 owners, BP and the private consortium AAR, in two separate deals.

BP will reinvest some of the cash proceeds of the deal to buy Rosneft shares from the Russian state, coming out with a stake of nearly 20 percent.

According to the terms of the agreement with Rosneft, BP would get two seats on the state-owned company’s board once the deal is closed, as expected, in the first half of this year.

Igor Sechin, the head of Rosneft and long-standing ally of Russian President Vladimir Putin, said in January he would welcome Mr Dudley on the company’s board.