BP says in talks with Russia's Rosneft

LONDON (Reuters) - BP <:BP.LO:>Plc , recovering from its Gulf of Mexico oil spill, said it is in talks with Russian state-controlled oil company Rosneft about a possible deal, news that sent the British oil company's shares up 3 percent.

Sky News television reported Rosneft will take a stake in BP, probably around 5 percent, while a source familiar with the matter told Reuters the planned deal would involve the two companies jointly exploring for oil and gas in Russia and other places.

BP chief executive Bob Dudley has scheduled a news conference for 2100 GMT on Friday, at the company's headquarters. Dudley was in Moscow earlier on Friday for a "routine" meeting with Prime Minister Vladimir Putin.

The focus on Russia is coming full circle for the newly tapped Dudley, who was forced to flee Russia in 2008 after heading BP's Russian joint venture, TNK-BP, which is half-owned by BP.

Dudley had been the boss for TNK-BP's formation in 2003 and was forced to leave due to what he described as a campaign of harassment by BP-TNK's billionaire oligarch co-owners.

Tony Hayward, Dudley's predecessor who was vilified for his handling of BP's massive Gulf of Mexico spill in 2010, holds a seat on TNK-BP's board of directors.

Russia is a key part of BP's global operation, providing the company with a quarter of its reserves before the U.S. oil spill, so it is vital for Dudley to establish a good working relationship with the world's largest oil exporting nation.

"BP confirms that it is in discussions with Rosneft relating to a possible arrangement," a spokesman said in an emailed statement.

Putin's spokesman Dmitry Peskov declined to comment on the share swap report. Others confirmed the talks but would not comment on their nature.

GLOBAL STAGE

Russia has increasingly been looking to raise its influence on the global financial stage, with major companies -- including state-controlled ones -- seeking foreign acquisitions.

Some deals have come under fierce opposition in the countries involved, such as Surgutneftegas's purchase of a stake in Hungary's MOL . Others, like Sberbank's bid for German carmaker Opel, collapsed.

Prime Minister Vladimir Putin's government has also pledged to ease investors' access into Russia as it looks to foreigners to play a key role in helping to modernize the economy -- including through taking part in a big privatization drive starting this year.

Britain's new coalition government has attempted to improve relations with Moscow -- tense since the murder of ex-KGB agent Alexander Litvinenko in 2006 -- although tensions resurfaced last month with the expulsion of a Russian diplomat from London.

U.S.-listed shares of BP climbed 3.5 percent to $49.18 ahead of the news conference.

(Additional reporting by Volodya Soldatkin and Toni Vorobyova in Moscow and Chris Baltimore in Houston, writing by Anna Driver, editing by Gerald E. McCormick, Gary Hill)