As many as four Russian oligarchs, one former German Chancellor and mixed group of other TNK-BP board members and executives sat fidgeting their thumbs in a meeting room in Berlin yesterday after the BP-nominated representatives nominated by BP did not make it to the meeting.

BP stated that its four TNK-BP board members had requested on Thursday that the meeting to discuss a possible role for the joint venture in BP's ten billion dollars worth tie-up with Russian rival Rosneft be deferred for a week.

But the remaining part of the board in which the four billionaires who make up the Alfa-Acces-Renova (AAR) consortium are included, three independent appointees, one of whom is Gerhard Schröder and the TNK-BP executive team however assembled in Berlin as planned.

The unsuccessful meeting is just the latest bend in the tale of BP and Rosneft. AAR commenced a legal challenge within weeks of the announcement of the deal, which includes five billion dollars worth share-swap and plans to explore the Arctic South Kara Sea. AAR claimed that the proposal breached the agreement of TNK and BP shareholder and specified that all business in Russia should be conducted through the joint venture.

A British judge sustained the injunction and formal negotiation is fixed to conclude next month. But in the meanwhile TNK-BP pushed for details of the deal, and a preliminary board meeting held in the last week agreed that the company should push for a piece of the action.

BP downplayed the holdup yesterday terming it simply a reflection of the complexity of the proposal. But sources close to AAR were talking darkly of taking terms like disappointment, delay or even sabotage.