New BP Boss Off To Russia To Mend Fences With Moscow--Report

LONDON (AFP)--Incoming BP PLC (BP, BP.LN) boss Bob Dudley next week will fly to Moscow to meet shareholders of its Russian joint venture TNK-BP, as relations thaw between the two companies, the Financial Times said Saturday. The visit will be Dudley's first trip to Russia since being forced to flee the country in 2008 when he was head of TNK-BP amid a bitter battle between BP and its Russian partners over control of the venture, the paper said. Dudley will travel with Tony Hayward, BP's outgoing chief executive, and the pair will also meet senior government officials, according to a person familiar with the visit, the FT added. BP declined to comment. The visit is likely to include discussion of the sale of BP assets in Venezuela to TNK-BP, the business daily said. BP on Tuesday said it was seeking to raise $30 billion from asset sales to help meet the costs of the Gulf of Mexico oil spill, which led the group to also say that Hayward would depart on October 1. Hayward, who is to remain a BP board member until November 30, has meanwhile been nominated as a non-executive director of TNK-BP. (END) Dow Jones Newswires July 31, 2010 05:15 ET (09:15 GMT)