Now it’s war at BP-TNK

The oil giant’s dispute with its Russian partners has erupted into open hostilities with the stage set for a long battle in the international courts

Bob Dudley was at the end of his tether. The embattled chief executive of TNK-BP, BP


His departure was not a total surprise. Dudley had just five days before a temporary visa expired, but there had been hope that he would be able to get a new one. Instead, he booked a flight for that evening, destined for a location that BP has kept under wraps. Putting in motion an operation that had been weeks in planning, executives at TNK-BP immediately began pulling together a team that would be flown out to support Dudley. He will now attempt to run TNK-BP, a company with a workforce of more than 66,000, almost all Russians, from a secret location.

BP chairman Peter Sutherland told The Sunday Times: