TNK-BP, an equal partnership between London-based BP and a group of Russian billionaires, should “expand broadly in the world,” Fridman, who is also interim chief executive officer, told Bloomberg. BP “has no need to sell to a competitor and make them stronger.”

Fridman, Russia’s third-richest man and head of the Alfa Group whose businesses range from banking to mobile phones along with oil and gas, said the Russian shareholders’ relationship with BP has changed since a dispute in 2008 came close to ending the partnership. Bob Dudley, who headed TNK-BP at the time and was forced to leave Moscow, takes the helm at London-based BP next month. Dudley and Hayward recently met Fridman in his office, the billionaire said.

“We didn’t think we should be a BP branch,” Fridman said. “TNK and BP had an intense dispute. It’s over.”

Talks to buy assets in Venezuela and Vietnam are furthest along, TNK-BP Chief Financial Officer Jonathan Muir said in an interview. The company is also looking at BP assets in North Africa, he said. BP has production in Algeria and Egypt and exploration acreage in Libya. UBS AG is advising TNK-BP.

Mikhail Friedman