MOSCOW -(Dow Jones)- Bob Dudley, chief executive of U.K. oil major BP PLC (BP), is meeting with Russian Prime Minister Vladimir Putin in Moscow Friday, said a government spokesman who declined to comment on the agenda of the meeting.

BP owns 50% of Russia's third biggest oil producer TNK-BP Ltd. (TNBP.RS) as well as a 3% stake in state-controlled OAO Rosneft (ROSN.RS). Russia accounts for around a quarter of BP's total output.

Dudley served as CEO of TNK-BP for five years, until he was expelled by BP's Russian partners during a shareholder dispute in 2008.

Putin has repeatedly urged Russian companies to expand abroad and in return grant international majors access to its vast hydrocarbons, in particular difficult fields in Russia's Arctic regions. However, any deals have yet to materialize.

The fate of the TNK-BP's Kovykta gas field in Siberia, which will be auctioned off in February, may also be on the agenda.

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