BP faces protests at its shareholder meeting in LondonApril 14, 2011 - 17:34 AMT PanARMENIAN.Net - BP (British Petroleum) faced waves of protests at its shareholder meeting in London on Thursday, April 14, as fishermen from the U.S. Gulf Coast complained about poor compensation for the oil spill and institutional investors claimed executive pay packets were excessive. But the company gained some critical breathing room on another major problem - at the last minute, it received an extension to the Thursday deadline to complete a stalled major deal in Russia. Just ahead of the annual general meeting, BP said Russia's OAO Rosneft had agreed to move the deadline to complete a $16 billion share swap to May 16. The deal was blocked in court by a quartet of Russian billionaires, BP's partners in the older TNK-BP venture. Rosneft had initially refused to budge on the deadline, throwing the deal into doubt and casting a large shadow over the shareholder meeting - the first since the Macondo well blowout in the Gulf almost a year ago that sparked off the biggest oil spill in U.S. history. Rosneft spokesman Rustam Kazharov confirmed the deadline extension, but declined to say whether the company planned to look for another partner to replace BP in the deal to explore Russia's Arctic region. Adding to BP's woes, two of the world's biggest pension funds have added their names to a growing list of investors planning to vote against the company's annual report at the meeting. Complaints include the level of executive bonuses and the re-election of a key safety executive. Live drums and brass provided a soundtrack for the crowds of protesters gathered outside the meeting's building, watched over by a light police presence, the Associated Press reports. Top stories Yerevan has dismissed Turkey’s demand to shut down the Armenian nuclear power plant as “inappropriate”. Armenia will loan 2.9 billion drams to Nagorno Karabakh (Artsakh), according to a draft government decision. The Ministry of Ecology and Natural Resources of Azerbaijan has “strongly condemned” Armenia’s decision. Kerobyan has said that for the first time in the history of Armenia, the volume of foreign direct investments amounted to about $1 billion. Partner news | Czech-Armenian military cooperation discussed in Yerevan A delegation led by the Director General for the Industrial Cooperation Division of the Ministry of Defence of the Czech Republic visited Armenia. U.S. welcomes efforts to define Armenia-Azerbaijan border The United States welcomes efforts to define the border between Armenia and Azerbaijan, says Vedant Patel. Biden honors resilience of Armenian people on April 24 U.S. President Joe Biden has issued a statement on the 109th anniversary of the Armenian Genocide. Ex-Karabakh leader moved to solitary confinement cell in Baku, his son says David Vardanyan is the son of former Karabakh leader Ruben Vardanyan who who is currently imprisoned in Azerbaijan. |