Russian police raid BP venture, question managers

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By Anastasia Onegina and Dmitry Zhdannikov

MOSCOW, March 19 (Reuters) - Russian police on Wednesday raided offices of oil major BP (BP.L: Quote, Profile, Research) and its venture TNK-BP and questioned managers, in a move likely to spark concerns about the Kremlin's new asset grab campaign.

TNK-BP is the subject of long-running market speculation that the Kremlin wants one of its companies, such as state gas monopoly Gazprom (GAZP.MM: Quote, Profile, Research), to buy out the Russian billionaire shareholders in the venture to become a partner of BP in a bid to further tighten the grip over energy resources.

But the crackdown also comes as Moscow's relations with London are at an all-time low following Russia's repeated refusal to extradite to Britain an ex-KGB agent suspected of murdering a vocal Kremlin critic.

Gazprom's chairman Dmitry Medvedev won Russia's presidential election by a landslide earlier this month and has promised to follow the policies of his mentor Vladimir Putin, the architect of renationalisation of the oil industry of the past year.

The employees of TNK-BP, Russia's No.3 oil producer, were briefly banned from moving in and out of the firm's headquarters on the famous Arbat street in central Moscow on Wednesday morning after law enforcement officers arrived in two minivans.

"In the evening, the employees have been asked to leave the office earlier," said one company source. A nearby and much smaller office of BP on Novy Arbat, which hosts oil trading and other operations, was also raided in the evening.

The Russian shareholders in TNK-BP have repeatedly denied that they have plans to sell their 50 percent stake. BP controls the other 50 percent in TNK-BP.