our society and our state in general has once again been brutally challenged we need to do everything for the perpetrators of this crime to be identified and brought to justice those who resist they should be killed on the spot president medvedev pledges swift action against those behind the terror attack in moscow moscow's airport airports management faces charges of negligence after a suspected suicide bomber was able to pass security and kill thirty five people. around one hundred eighty people were injured in russia's worst terrorist atrocity since the twin suicide attacks rocked the moscow metro system last march more than one hundred remain in the hospital across the russian capital many of them in critical condition fifteen foreign citizens among the wounded. russia's lower house of parliament approves a new strategic arms reduction treaty with the u.s.

after months of discussions the state duma gave the go ahead to the agreement that could see the nuclear arsenals of both nations slashed by a third the deal was approved by u.s. lawmakers in december in december after meeting strong opposition from the republican party in. europe's top human rights organization back to report that the kosovo liberation army was involved in organ trafficking kosovo's current prime minister. is implicated in the report but strongly denies the charges the illegal harvesting of organs from prisoners budget only happened during the conflict in the former yugoslavia more than a decade. talk to the vice president of russia oil giant peter o'brien about their plans to develop the hoped for riches of the arctic together with b.p. . culture is that so much different and there's a huge music is there a power line. when

a country into oil a country divided lebanon faces the prospect of a government controlled by hezbollah will lebanon's democratic. polo again oh welcome to the institution on r.c.i. melbourne and today my guest is peter o'brien. one of the world's biggest oil companies british petroleum and a major russian oil producer ross nets are now part of their big plans to go to the oil rich arctic but environmental activists say this will destroy the area do these fears hold water we're asking vice president. peter o'bryan. british be trolling him and draw snaps have done a multi-billion dollar shastri off to create what they call

a groundbreaking global alliance the state controlled crosstown will allow b.p. into the oil fields in the northern congress see the part and say they'll set up a not to acknowledge center it will decide how best to safely extract oil and gas from the shelf but the oil spill in the gulf of mexico left a big stage b.p.'s reputation and raised questions about the partnership the question is can it handle one of the world's unspoilt regions. however so brian thank you for money welcome to the show well first of all i wanted to ask the the the question of environmental protection bush is one of the most discussed in the news. concerning syria company and b.p. since the oil spill in the gulf of mexico b.p. has a specially bad reputation in environmental protection so the arctic environment is

is particularly for a gyal so isn't it too risky choice of a partner for four or for a big project major project in the arctic appreciate the question it's obviously a very important issue and i think has been the recipient of much thought both at the company and i think the leadership of the country you would have seen probably some of the highlights from the meeting with prime minister putin and b.p. c.e.o. bob dudley this topic was addressed on i think it's been made clear by leadership of russia that frankly the experience b.p. has had in the gulf of mexico or over the course of the period from the end of april last year through the end of last year should be viewed as a positive there are many exploration wells being drilled around the world. and have been doing so for many years this one incident is obviously it was painful for all of us in the industry to see at the same time looking back i think we can

complement the way p.p. handled it we can also compliment i think the transparent nature in which b.p. is willing to discuss it and resolve any remaining issues as to compensation etc. in terms of our specific project setting up first a technology center and also a emergency potential rapid response center and in the event that there is some sort of event receive the highest priority as high as any of the commercial economic terms in the agreement and i would also say that it's early stages and it's early days yet we have quite a bit of work to do before we understand that there is actually enough oil there to even drill an exploration well where to drill it and if we find oil and exploration well then how to potentially develop it and produce it and any of those decisions will be driven first and foremost by making sure technology exists in order to do so safely well another quote from the caller just said they they say they

insists that no company in the world today has a no how safe drilling in the arctic and certainly not b.p. is that true well i think. frankly no company has experience yet drilling in this type of armor to say somebody would have experience in dealing with potential environmental issues in the mislead intentionally dangerous what you're saying it is potentially of course it is potentially dangerous there will be a process and both companies are committed to going to the utmost levels to ensure that preventive measures are taken and we don't have any difficult issues how soon can the drilling itself start. well i think it's going to be a couple years. collecting seismic data and then sometime also interpret it. we think it's possible to spot a meeting start the first well by the end or so two thousand and fifteen according to the license requirements there are three licenses and in the joint venture that

will be pursuing with b.p. we should have two wells and each license by two thousand and twenty will have to benefit from b.p.'s technologies will these technologies become open for a company without a doubt i mean i think from day one we've already agreed to be establishing a technology center likely to be in st petersburg. and will also be cooperated with some leading institutes globally both europe and the united states that b.p. and real stuff have already worked with for various projects and b.p. has is going to be committing a very high quality exploration team and that exploration team and b.p. has a good track record of exploring successfully unfortunately the news flow around b.p. has been dominated by the gulf of mexico events since last april how you mentioned this meeting with prime minister putin well at this meeting with their b.p. c.e.o. bob dudley. promised to put mentioned that the joint venture could receive tax

breaks in wage and mount and for how long did the space for. i don't believe he specified i wasn't actually at that meeting but i don't believe he specified must based on everything i've seen and heard from from my colleagues at the company. and i also think i would say two things i think brakes or the word often used in russian. i think is is inappropriate i think what would needs to be discussed here is a workable tax regime which takes into account the amount of capital that will be put at risk during the expiration face the duration at which that capital is at risk and then the amount of capital which will be need to need to be spent on development and it's a very different economic model if you will than production of west side here so we are working at the request of prime minister putin together with b.p. to prepare

a proposal as to what the tax regime would look like and we think there are a number of the precedents in the world which a number of other governments are very happy with including brazil potentially norway and mexico i will continue quoting the western media bed because this is that the side of the story that they have the world audience now is and what we're trying to do to give us is to give them the other the other side of the story so that the u.s. has support of gold an outcry in the u.s. over national security issues because b.p. is the fuel supplier for the american military edward markey u.s. democratic congressman and natural resource committee member hold for the deal to be examined do you do you expect significant pressure from the united states concerning the deal itself then the implementation of your plans. a few things i was in london friday evening for the sandwich signing ceremony conference and i think we saw come across the tape seen in the cia or one

of the channels being shown at the time. this comment from congressman markey before we'd actually gone and signed and announced so i'm not sure i think he some of his staff probably had some information from one of the news channels that had leaked and i'm confident that once congressman markey and other representatives or seiners or government officials in united states actually see the transaction. first of all it's five percent of b.p. . well i think more importantly once they see the transaction and understand that this is actually highly positive for global energy security we are together with b.p. going to be using the latest technologies to bring hopefully on stream a new hydrocarbon basin that's incremental supply which the united states has and that the consumer should be very positive about. but you're not commenting on this

issue that b.p. is supplying feel for for the for the american military may or may this become a problem of them becoming involved in russia with russian business companies i couldn't understand why it would be a problem. if and b.p. share capital there's a five percent shareholder with whom they have a strategic project undertaking together that could be producing significant oil for the world market and yeah yeah yeah you mean because because these five percent have no possible way of influencing the fulfillment of the contract including the the the u.s. military contract he will continue to fulfill its obligations in its own commercial interests and to the extent that contract with the u.s. military is a good one i'm sure they'll keep a fairly ok now how soon could dress they have to get a seat beep. board of directors do you think this this will happen any time soon you know it hasn't been discussed and at five percent i would expect you would i

don't again it hasn't been discussed and. it's not part of the agreement if you will that's in place and. we'll see how things evolve over the next few years but would i i guess ross next would would love this to happen someday or not or you're not interested oh i mean i think clearly both companies could benefit from having access if you will to more information and participating in decision making but i think it makes sense for that to be. in the context of the relevant corporate law in both countries both for b.p. stake in the us not to russia and roast and stake and b.p. based on the actual equity owned by the two companies well after you have you have signed the agreement after the so finalized can you tell us who was more cautious who was who was more afraid what they were approaching each other your side or the board of the bt side. i have to the mood in london was very positive i didn't see

anybody being more or less i thought both sides were really very excited i think you know for russia and for ross not this is an opportunity to open a new hydrocarbon basin which b.p. for example has said could be as perspective as the entire u.k. north sea and with the risks that it presents which we talked about at the beginning of our discussion to be doing so and with the company that has a lot of offshore experience relevant technology. is super and i think that's evident from the comments also prime minister putin who wasn't on in front of what had seen the c.e.o. or leader. i don't think anybody should underestimate the impact that this project and this alliance will have and the positive science for the development of the russian offshore industry another good example is brazil and what the acceleration of fuel some of the offshore pre-sold opportunities there is doing for the

construction business the oilfield services business and all the other auxiliary businesses transportation logistics etc that supply these massive projects. hopefully we get off to a good start with this first one and it can be a catalyst to develop it along the lines into the scale that we see in brazil says peter ryan vice president ross next spotlight will be back shortly right after the break so stay with us we'll continue in less than a minute. closer

to being to the street. to the land developed by cossacks in ancient times. now wattie goes to the center of russian defense production. with christianity and

shamanism existed side by side for centuries. with people in remote villages cut off from the basics please take for granted the complete republic russia close up on r.t. . was the strangest attempt of a military takeover. of the us president trying to overthrow a foreign country's government but his strategic game. america recognized its defeat. questioning if cuba managed to cope with the expectorant all don't talk of politics or god. i leave you go but the rajab either live in the cuban missile crisis games and reality.

welcome back the spotlight i'll bring up in just to remind that my guest in the studio today is peter o'brien vice president of all sniffed mr bryan b.p. can you just say a kind of deal and is already present on the russian market as co owner of the car b.p. company stand parlous chief executive of the russian outer tove the financial times recently like went all new business pursuit is in russia and ukraine must be pursued through t n k b p that means a a r can pursue any ventures in these two countries outside t m k b p and neither can be p do you expect any legal actions from the a r assure our leaders. i don't expect any i mean you obviously have to ask them directly i think there are

a few things to keep in mind first we were discussing three licenses in the russian arctic on a twenty five thousand square kilometers where only to make a large investment with the latest technology. the licenses are russian of licenses and we have agreements in place with b.p. who has the role of experience in technology that's the first and second thing my understanding from b.p. is that they are in discussions with the russian partners. and that the necessary procedures. will be here too and there shouldn't be any issues. but what makes mr palmer say so well who are they really so much disappointed with you do you. i haven't read the details agreements between b.p. and they are the shareholder and b.p. . but this is a very large opportunity with the right technology and approach could be very

positive for both our two companies and. i'm sure other players would love to dissipate. but for now we have licenses and we have an agreement b.p. ok let's get back to to what really in the western press concerning so in your business in russia us nest was criticized in the western press pretty much as a matter of fact for buying up the assets of you cos after the conviction of mikhail heard that across skee the oligarchs the lawyer robert amsterdam told the guardian i quote b.p. has absolutely zero idea what's in getting into if it had a dispute with its new partners with here and the partner would win every time and quote. have to. answer this somehow or you don't care about what people say that. your doing business with you i think it's. unfair to characterize the piece is not knowing what they're getting into they've

been participating in opportunities in russia here since the mid ninety's including with us and so on honey we've been working together for more than ten years. they also participated in our i.p.o. . during the preparation of which. some of the issues i think mr thompson i was referring to were analyzed in the upmost detail by some of the best international law firms potential risks from the previous you course related process itself and b.p. came to the decision to be i think the second largest acquire of shares in our i.p.o. that's almost five years ago. and clearly b.p. feels the same way today is they're taking another nine and a half percent in the company well. robert absolute when he said what i just quoted i think he was he was trying to to represent the interests of foreign business foreign investors and it's common knowledge to everyone that foreign

investors in russia are not happy about the russian judicial system about the way the russian courts wake well you are a foreigner but you work for a russian company so does that mean you in your position are happy with the russian divisional system. look if foreign investors are not happy with the russian judicial system that's a problem ok because the country needs foreign investment and all investors whether they are foreign or russian should feel that their rights will be protected and that once they make an investment decision and start to pursue it if there are problems they will be resolved judiciously fairly in accordance with the law at the same time the open market economy in russia has been developing only for twenty years approximately these things take time it takes time to develop the judiciary at all levels which is going to be independent and has relevant case law with good if you. well judicial precedent so it's clearly an issue if foreign

investors are not happy and as a result russia is losing out on investment dollars going to other countries and the leadership of the country needs to address that and i think recently that's obviously happening hopefully that will continue and speed up frankly so so is it a yes or no are you happy with the state of the russian. course does oh not that i live in russia i receive my salary here in rubles and pay taxes here and pay my rent and and i want to russian economy to succeed and if foreign investors are not happy that i'm happy ok. b.p. russia president jeremy hunt has mentioned some areas outside of russia b.p. plans to develop together with rosneft could you could you elaborate on that. well i think i think the two projects that we have now the arctic development and also we're in the midst of closing our acquisition of fifty percent of rural which is

a joint venture for refining assets in germany which the fifty percent we're buying from the venezuela company and a basin. the other fifty percent owners b.p. so we'll have these two projects together and i think they're going to get the most of our focus in the near term at the same time we are keen to explore other opportunities with b.p. other ones in their portfolio around the rest of the world or potentially new areas for both of us depending on each other's strengths and interests but i can honestly tell you that it's early days and we haven't gotten into any specifics of what those might be generally hard also said b.p. would initially invest one billion dollars into the exploration phase of the project is there an approximate figure of the total investment plant. there is i mean i think it's likely to be more than that if it if it looks like it's going to be successful. i think to adhere to the minimum requirements of

two the size of three d. seismic and six exploration wells you know with cost inflation over the next five to eight years it is likely to be more than that maybe as much as two two billion dollars. but it's too early to say because these things happen in sequence you know we collect data we analyze it we determine where it makes sense to drill and then we drill if we're successful we keep going if we're partially successful we keep going but maybe at a slightly slower pace if we're not successful then we have a discussion about does it make sense to continue or not. you know when i was based in london as a reporter for russian television i made that interesting. sort of lynching story for four for the television about russia paying fifty times more than britain for the residence of its ambassador because the residence of the russian ambassador in london we pay one pound

a year and the the english pay one rouble here for their residence and so we're bit fifty times more which is unfair so and now you actually five percent to five percent but the b.p. shares remain very underestimated that everybody says oh there's that mean does that mean it's so it's your when i mean the situation when you exchange he shares. well. keep in mind we're giving them nine percent nine point five percent not four five percent of b.p. . i think both companies boards and management feel that both companies are undervalued i think the investor base might say you know the liability estimate that b.p. has had for the gulf of mexico is likely to come down they've done some good things with some asset sales and they have some new projects coming on so once the industry reem braces them if you will like we are and have also received some licenses recently from australia and some other places that the valuation might

start to approach they also need to update the market on their dividend policy stop paying dividends for a while ast year because they want to make i believe a priority of repaying the claims first so once the dividend comes back on stream and the main u.k. institutional investor base gets comfortable going with the story now there is likely to be a pick up ok at this so it's maybe a shorter term more concrete upside to to the b.p. story at the same time ross have to feel look at the reserve base that we have the resources that we have. growing russian market leadership position we have in russia also the opportunity we have to be the supplier to china i think our story frankly could be even more interesting but probably on a longer term basis no longer said basis but when do you expect b.p. to start rising i wouldn't want to speculate and let's watch what they announce on february first when they put out their full year results and either then or shortly after that i expect the company to make a presentation update to community on their dividend policy for example and some

other strategic plans that's likely to be positive when it when you said that you expect growth they have to start to start getting up to you mentioned like on a longer term basis do you connect this also with the arctic projects that may this be like like two to two thousand and sixteen seventeen so my dad well you know i mean i think a little longer term relative to b.p. i didn't mean folks would hardly wait five years. i think there are a number of investment projects that we're already undertaking upgrading our refineries for example. a few more upstream projects such as the one and he said he recalled the homes which were likely to start soon as we get clarity on taxation. we're also likely to come out of the market this year with their new c.e.o. new calling my policy a lot of to outline an updated strategy strategic view i think those are also likely to be positive but my point is that if you look at our reserves and resource

potential in my market and russia it's just clear that if we can sort out for example the tax regime. we're trading much cheaper than b.p. in terms of a barrel of oil ok thank you thank you very much for being with us and just to remind my guest in the studio today was peter o'brien vice president hosni and that's it for now from all of us here if you want to have your say on spotlight but have someone in mind when you think i should be next time just drop you want and i'll get off at t.v. dot are you and let's keep the spotlight contract we will be back with more first a comment on what's going on in and outside pressure until then stay in our team and take it thank you thank you very much by the way a human. wealthy

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