DAVOS, Switzerland (AP) -- The chief executive of oil giant BP Ltd., Bob Dudley, said Wednesday he was confident about the investment climate in Russia.
Foreign investors have expressed concern about a recent Russian court decision extending the prison sentence against ex-oil tycoon Mikhail Khodorkovsky by six years on charges many consider politically motivated.
But Dudley said a new deal with Russian oil firm Rosneft to exploit the Arctic Sea is "based on the promise of the future and not the legacies of the past."
"It demonstrates BP's confidence of the Russian investment climate," he told reporters in Davos during a joint news conference with Rosneft chairman Igor Sechin, who is also Russia's deputy prime minister.
Bob Dudley's comments come as BP signs a 'strategic framework agreement' with Russian oil company Rosneft on the sidelines of the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland.
Dudley told reporters he was saddened by the "tragic" bombing at Russia's busiest airport that killed 35 people two days earlier.
Russian President Dmitry Medvedev is due to give the opening speech at the annual Davos forum later Wednesday.
Asked about the impact that the Moscow airport bombing would have on the business environment in Russia, Dudley said "it doesn't change our view specifically about Russia and risk. It's just a terrible, terrible tragedy."
He addressed concerns about a Gulf of Mexico-style oil spill in the Arctic by saying BP would be "engineering this right with all the care that we would have anywhere."
Foreign investors have expressed concern about a recent Russian court decision extending the prison sentence against ex-oil tycoon Mikhail Khodorkovsky by six years on charges many consider politically motivated.
But Dudley said a new deal with Russian oil firm Rosneft to exploit the Arctic Sea is "based on the promise of the future and not the legacies of the past."
"It demonstrates BP's confidence of the Russian investment climate," he told reporters in Davos during a joint news conference with Rosneft chairman Igor Sechin, who is also Russia's deputy prime minister.
Bob Dudley's comments come as BP signs a 'strategic framework agreement' with Russian oil company Rosneft on the sidelines of the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland.
Dudley told reporters he was saddened by the "tragic" bombing at Russia's busiest airport that killed 35 people two days earlier.
Russian President Dmitry Medvedev is due to give the opening speech at the annual Davos forum later Wednesday.
Asked about the impact that the Moscow airport bombing would have on the business environment in Russia, Dudley said "it doesn't change our view specifically about Russia and risk. It's just a terrible, terrible tragedy."
He addressed concerns about a Gulf of Mexico-style oil spill in the Arctic by saying BP would be "engineering this right with all the care that we would have anywhere."
