A Siberian court will consider on August 16 including a 11.855 billion ruble ($382 million) claim by BP's joint Russian venture TNK-BP against RUSIA Petroleum in the register of creditors' claims, the court said on Wednesday.
The Irkutsk Region Arbitration Tribunal imposed on June 21 temporary administration procedures at RUSIA Petroleum, a wholly-owned unit of TNK-BP that holds the license to develop the huge Kovykta gas condensate field in Eastern Siberia. Rizben Enterprises Limited, a Cyprus-based subsidiary of TNK-BP, subsequently filed a claim against the gas field operator.
RUSIA Petroleum filed for bankruptcy in early June after Rizben Enterprises Ltd demanded the early repayment of 12 billion ruble loan.
Under Russian legislation, after temporary administration procedures are introduced for a defaulting borrower, creditors have one month to file their claims after a notice of the imposition of temporary administration is published.
TNK-BP, which has held the license to Kovykta for about 16 years, first announced it would withdraw from the project in 2007 after coming under pressure from the government, which said the company was failing to meet output targets.
TNK-BP agreed to sell Kovykta to Gazprom for around $1 billion to cover initial investment, but the deal was never finalized and talks on the sale have since been suspended.
Analysts have said that RUSIA Petroleum is likely to be sold to state-owned Rosneftegaz, a shareholder in both gas giant Gazprom and top Russian oil company Rosneft.
MOSCOW, July 21 (RIA Novosti)
