SOLAMON ENERGY

BP terminates deal with contractor after Azeri fraud allegations

• BP Plc (BP/) said it will cancel a contract with a company following allegations of fraud related to a project in Azerbaijan.

“A contractor told BP that it violated BP’s rules of behavior in the past,” Tamam Bayatli, a BP spokeswoman in the Azeri capital of Baku, said by telephone today. “We are now in the process of terminating our contract with that contractor company.”

• She gave no details of the contractor or the project involved in the case.• The Telegraph reported at the

weekend that BP is part of a U.K. Serious Fraud Office investigation over bribery allegations filed against one of its engineering contractors in Azerbaijan.

• The unnamed contractor reported the allegations itself to the SFO last year, while there are no suggestions that BP employees paid bribes, the newspaper said.

• David Jones, a spokesman for the SFO, declined to comment.

• BP is leading oil and gas projects in Azerbaijan, including the Azeri-Chirag-Guneshli, or ACG, and Shah Deniz developments.