The stock is up 42 cents at $38.61.
From the Telegraph:
BP is unique in Russia in that it is drawing funds out of the country's oil industry rather than investing in it
BP is at risk of becoming a takeover target if it presses ahead with a sale of its $30bn (£19.5bn) stake in Russian joint venture TNK-BP and hands cash back to investors, shareholders have warned.
Institutions have been told they could be in line for a $15bn windfall under plans to split any proceeds from a sale between shareholders, investment, and debt reduction.
However, leading shareholders said shrinking the oil major by selling its principle Russian asset, which accounts for almost a third of BP's total oil production, would leave it vulnerable to bids from better-rated rivals Royal Dutch Shell and Exxon Mobil.
The warning came as Russian state oil group Rosneft was installed as the early front-runner for BP's 50pc stake in TNK-BP, despite chairman Igor Sechin's insistence that it had not tabled one of the "unsolicited approaches" that triggered BP's statement on Friday. "We never thought about it. This is a new situation that is just now developing," Mr Sechin, Russia's former deputy prime minister, said.
BP has also begun discussions with Alfa-Access-Renova (AAR), the consortium controlled by four oligarchs that owns the other half of TNK-BP and has expressed an interest in buying out its partner....MORE
