Russia TNK-BP CEO resists calls to step down

MOSCOW (Reuters) - The CEO of Russian oil firm TNK-BP, owned 50-50 by BP and a group of Russian tycoons, said on Saturday he was committed to his role despite demands from the Russians that he resign amid a deepening shareholders' row.

"I'm still committed to working and driving the company," Chief Executive Robert Dudley told a cluster of 30 journalists who huddled around him at a corporate governance conference in a Moscow hotel.

Earlier this week TNK-BP (TNBPI.RTS), Russia's No. 3 oil firm, failed to hold a board meeting when the Russian shareholders pulled out following BP's (BP.L) rejection of their demands to replace Dudley, who has served as CEO since TNK-BP's creation in 2003.

Both sides have publicly aired differences over strategy at the embattled firm, which analysts say emerged after months of intense Kremlin pressure on TNK-BP as neither the Russians nor BP are prepared to sell out to a state-controlled company, such as gas giant Gazprom (GAZP.MM).

"For five years, one of my roles has been trying to balance all the issues of shareholders. And I think the ability to keep this balance is important, and I will try to keep that balance," said Dudley, whose face showed signs of fatigue and strain.

Demands for Dudley to resign come on top of other problems at TNK-BP, which last year was forced to cede control of a major Siberian gas project to Gazprom.

Dudley maintained his long-held position that neither BP nor the Russian shareholders, which include billionaires Viktor Vekselberg, Mikhail Fridman and Len Blavatnik, would sell out.

"Neither of the shareholders are selling ... I think this will get resolved soon," he said.

But the shareholders' row, which involves disputes over expanding business abroad and clashing with BP's existing businesses, could have dented the firm's performance.

"TNK-BP's direction is not irreversible ... It has indeed arrived at a watershed," Dudley said.

"The company's performance and its entire level of productivity at present is unclear," Dudley told the conference, after which he received a loud, sustained round of applause from audience members who said it was a show of solidarity.

On Thursday, independent director and member of TNK-BP's 10-seat board Jean-Luc Vermeulen resigned.

Mounting state pressure on the firm over recent months, including the arrest of an employee on an industrial espionage charge, a raid on its Moscow offices and a court injunction to stop it using BP specialists, are signs the time to sell is approaching, analysts say.

(Editing by Christopher Johnson)