TNK-BP, BP’s Russian joint venture, plans a surprise bid for a stake of nearly 10 per cent in state-controlled Rosneft, Russia’s second-biggest oil major.

The 9.44 per cent Rosneft stake formerly belonged to Yukos – the company of Mikhail Khodorkovsky, the jailed oligarch and opponent of Vladimir Putin, Russia’s president. Yukos was forced into bankruptcy by claims for more than $33bn in back taxes.