By Tom McGhie and Will Stewart
26 March 2011, 7:03pm
BP is under intense pressure to settle the dispute with the four oligarch shareholders in its Russian joint venture that threatens the company’s future, after it emerged that rival Shell was holding talks with Kremlin-owned oil giant Rosneft about Arctic exploration.
Rosneft’s powerful chairman and Russia’s Deputy Prime Minister, Igor Sechin, said the company preferred to do a deal with BP, but that whatever happened its policy of exploiting Arctic oil and gas reserves would go ahead.