July 10 (Bloomberg) -- BP Plc, Europe's second-largest oil company, may clash again with Russian billionaires in an effort to keep its Russian unit's chief executive officer in the post, even as one investor said today that compromise is possible.

Representatives of BP on TNK-BP Ltd.'s board of directors are ``expected to attend'' a meeting tomorrow in Cyprus, the London-based company's spokesman David Nicholas said. AAR, which represents the billionaires in the Russian unit, has submitted motions to fire Robert Dudley from the TNK-BP CEO post, said Stan Polovets, chief executive of AAR.

``We have no comments'' on the meeting's agenda, timing or location, Nicholas said today by phone. ``As far as we are concerned the board meeting is a private matter.''

BP, which owns 50 percent of TNK-BP Ltd., is fighting for control against billionaires Viktor Vekselberg, Mikhail Fridman, German Khan and Len Blavatnik. Known collectively as AAR, they have sought Dudley's dismissal as TNK-BP CEO, saying he has put BP's interests ahead of their own.

TNK-BP accounts for a quarter of the BP's total output and a fifth of proved reserves.

BP could salvage its investment in TNK-BP if it makes compromises with its Russian partners, Vekselberg told the Wall Street Journal today.

The compromises suggested include changes such as new management and power sharing, the newspaper said, citing an interview with Vekselberg.

Failed Attempt

Dudley survived a vote on July 7 to dismiss him as head of the company's management subsidiary, known as TNK-BP Management, during a meeting of that unit's board. Polovets said AAR lost the vote because three out of five of those board members were personally selected by Dudley.

AAR has been proposing to replace Dudley with an ``independent'' nominee and to institute representational parity from the two groups of shareholders at all of the boards of directors of TNK-BP subsidiaries, Polovets said by phone from Moscow yesterday.

TNK-BP Ltd. board member Jean-Luc Vermeulen, an AAR representative, quit in May, saying he couldn't help settle the dispute between shareholders.

A TNK-BP Ltd. board meeting scheduled for May 29 failed to reach a quorum because directors representing AAR didn't show up in Cyprus, after BP refused to discuss Dudley's position.

Some expatriate workers at TNK-BP may have to leave the country this month because their visas will expire as a shareholder dispute threatens to damage the company's oil output at a time of record prices.

TNK-BP currently has 85 foreign staff and has only secured a quota from the emigration authorities for 71 personnel to prolong their working visas, Marina Dracheva, Moscow-based spokeswoman at the company, said by phone today. So far, 57 people have organized new visas, while 28 either still need to do this or leave the country by the end of July.

To contact the reporter on this story: Eduard Gismatullin in London at egismatullin@bloomberg.netGreg Walters in Moscow gwalters1@bloomberg.net

Last Updated: July 10, 2008 13:38 EDT