The BP-Rosneft deal has certainly rocked a few boats.  It is reported today that TNK, BP’s partners in Russia, have sought to block the deal with an injunction filed in a London court, on the basis that it contravenes two points of their agreement, despite reassurances from Deputy Prime Minister Igor Sechin.  The FT‘s Beyond Brics blog has a particularly intriguing analysis of the antics of TNK partner and Alfa Group chieftain Mikhail Fridman, who has proved to be vociferous in his opposition to the plan (and can be a formidable enemy, as BP’s Bob Dudley will remember from 2008).  But BP is not, Stefan Wagstyl suggests, the only force the billionaire is willing to take on:

But the oligarch’s real fight now is not with the British company but with the Russian state. Putin will not take kindly to such an open challenge. Igor Sechin, Rosneft chairman and deputy prime minister, said in Davos on Thursday that BP was acting within the law in terms of its planned share swap and Arctic exploration deal with Rosneft. TNK-BP’s claims would be settled in a “legal way”.