British major BP looks set to be frozen out of the Russian Arctic after talks to salvage its US$16bn share swap and strategic alliance deal with Rosneft appeared to have collapsed after the companies missed a May 16 deadline without striking a deal. The collapse of the deal is a major blow to BP, which touted its alliance with Rosneft as a transformative deal that would allow BP to emerge from the shadow cast by the Macondo oil spill. BP said that talks could continue with Rosneft, but with Rosneft now reportedly entertaining offers from other international oil companies (IOCs) we see virtually no hope that BP will be able to take part in the potentially lucrative Arctic exploration venture.
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