Russian co-owners of TNK-BP vote against $1 billion payout

The TNK-BP Russian co-owners have voted against a proposal to pay dividends worth $1 billion (636.9 million pounds) in 2012, putting pressure on BP to resolve the conflict and ownership issues, Reuters reports.
The British oil major BP and its oligarch partners jointly own the TNK-BP venture, but are heading for divorce after BP put its 50 percent stake in TNK-BP up for sale last month.
"At a time of continuing market uncertainty and while corporate governance at TNK-BP remains strained, we believe that a cautious stance by shareholders is called for," Reuters quotes Stan Polovets, the chief executive officer of the AAR consortium which groups the billionaire co-owners.
The dividend decision "is just keeping pressure on the (ownership) situation ... so that everyone stays focused on getting a resolution as quickly as possible," – Reuters cites Chris Weafer, chief strategist at Troika Dialog investment bank.