May 2004-The Russian Partners Want the Deal Changed
The Russian partners informed BP that they wanted the payments for their share of the JV to be made earlier. BP made the following statement:
We have an excellent set of agreements. We expect all partners to stick to those agreements. As we announced in February last year, BP,under the terms of the agreement, will pay three annual tranches on the anniversary of completion of dollars 1.25bn in BP shares valued at market prices prior to each annual payment. What our partners do with those agreements is a matter for them. The agreements provide for AAR to be 50 percent owners of TNK-BP through 2007.