BP left confused after Russian police raid oil giant's office

Published on Thursday 20 March 2008 09:41

RUSSIAN police have visited the Moscow offices of BP and its joint venture TNK-BP, the oil giant said.

No arrests were made and conflicting reports have been released as to what the officers were doing there.

A BP spokesman said: "We will co-operate with the authorities but we do not know what they were looking for or why they were there."

Officials at the Federal Investigative Committee initially said investigators seized some documents at TNK-BP as part of a probe into oil company Sidanco, which became part of TNK-BP in 2003.

But they said later that the visit was linked to a probe against unidentified managers of TNK-BP. The move has sparked fears of a state-orchestrated campaign to obtain lucrative energy assets. It also comes at a time when UK-Russia relations are at a low.

A diplomatic spat flared over Britain's demand for the extradition of former security officer Andrei Lugovoi, who is wanted over the murder in London of fellow ex-agent, Alexander Litvinenko.