Today saw a major blow for BP, which had hoped to reverse its Macondo-cursed fortunes through a high-profile, ‘breakthrough’ Arctic-shearing share swap with Rosneft, as the British majo failed to crack the opposition of the AAR consortium.  The path to Russia’s Arctic was always going to be a treacherous one; BP CEO Bob Dudley being particularly well placed to appreciate the perils of oil-dealing in Russia, having had his fingers badly burnt in wranglings during his stint as head of TNK-BP.  But was the intransigence of the four feisty oligarchs behind AAR the real reason for the failure of the deal?  The Financial Times considers the context: 

The politics really matters.  BP’s campaign ran into trouble when it emerged that the deal’s most prominent political backer – deputy prime minister and Rosneft chairman Igor Sechin – had to stand down from the company on president Dmitry Medvedev’s orders. Medvedev was publicly aiming at all ministers holding state company jobs, but it was clear to anybody following Moscow politics that Sechin was the main target.