AAR consortium says agreed with BP on TNK-BP board

A quartet of Soviet-born billionaires who own half of Russia's third-largest crude producer, TNK-BP , agreed with their partner BP to restore TNK-BP's board functions, their consortium said on Thursday.

Russian national oil company Rosneft recently agreed to buy the partners out of the Anglo-Russian company, whose board has been unable to make important decisions since two independent directors quit amid hostilities between BP and the AAR consortium.

The agreement will allow the current TNK-BP board, which remains short one independent director, to make decisions on matters requiring simple majority approval, as well as "unanimous reserved matters", AAR said.

"This agreement will enable the parties to better focus on preparing their respective transactions with Rosneft, while having a fully-functioning Board of Directors will ensure effective corporate governance and business continuity in TNK-BP during this transition period." AAR CEO Stan Polovets said in a statement. (Reporting by Vladimir Soldatkin; Editing by Melissa Akin)