Sources close to BP deny that its strategic alliance with Rosneft will be jeopardised by Kremlin moves to force the resignation of the Russian energy group's chairman, Igor Sechin.

Sources close to BP deny that its strategic alliance with Rosneft will be jeopardised by Kremlin moves to force the resignation of the Russian energy group's chairman, Igor Sechin.

Russia wants to remove government representatives from the helm of state-run companies to improve corporate governance and the country's investment climate, president Dmitry Medvedev said in a speech in the Urals.

Sechin, Russia's deputy prime minister, was one of the architects of a $16bn (£10bn) share swap deal signed in January that involves BP and Rosneft teaming up to explore the Arctic seabed for oil. That venture is already facing obstacles after BP's current Russian partners, TNK-BP, won a temporary court blocking order last month. The oligarchs behind the joint venture argued that under the terms of a shareholder agreement any new business initiatives in Russia should come through TNK-BP.

Although BP refused to issue a formal comment about Sechin, people close to the company said his departure would not make any difference to plans to ally itself with Rosneft; BP was confident the venture would be waved through.

Medvedev is calling for the resignation of all government ministers from state-run firms ahead of shareholder meetings in June. During his speech, the president criticised the government's increasing role in the economy, which could put him on a collision course with prime minister Vladimir Putin, who is viewed as more hardline. It is not certain yet whether the two will stand against each other in upcoming presidential elections.

Sechin is a former aide to Putin and has been dubbed Russia's energy tsar after building up Rosneft as the country's pre-eminent oil company via a merger with Yukos. Chris Weafer, chief strategist at Russian bank UralSib, said Sechin's resignation would not change the Russian landscape for BP: "The deal is a strategic one for Russia and transcends the personalities involved. It's something Russia wants to do. Rosneft is the country's largest oil company, but everyone knows it needs western know-how and expertise to find and extract the huge deposits that lie beneath the Arctic shelf."

Russian analysts played down the idea of a possible rift between Putin and Medvedev saying that when it came to strategic issues such as exploration and production in the Arctic, they "were singing from the same hymn sheet."

BP's investors expressed concern the removal of Sechin would mean the British company no longer had a hotline to the Kremlin, but others were more circumspect. Russia's Alfa Bank said: "The move is unlikely to change anything, as the exclusion of ministers and deputy prime ministers from boards of directors does not necessarily mean they will lose their influence over the companies' actions or ability to support them." Alfa said the state woud still retain majority stakes in its leading companies even after the planned sell down of government shares to 51% over the next three years. One analyst said: "Ministers will still be able to influence events by issuing binding directives."

But Prosperity Capital, which manages Norway's sovereign oil fund investments in Russia, welcomed the initiative, saying it would give a major boost to Russia's investment case.

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