BP said it has completed its $6.15bn merger with Russia's TNK on Friday after making an adjustment to the deal's terms. But the UK oil group said that it has decided to leave out its interest in Sakhalin - an island off the Siberian coast near Japan - which it originally intended to contribute to TNK-BP out of the deal "for the moment". The company said it would pay the Alfa Group and Access-Renova, who will together control 50 per cent of the TNK-BP venture, an immediate $2.6bn in cash for its stake in the company, followed by annual tranches of $1.25bn in BP shares. The exclusion of the Sakhalin interest in the TNK-BP deal has contributed to a rise in its initial cash payment to AAR to $2.6bn, $200m more than the estimate annnounced in June. Shares in BP were down 0.5 per cent to 435p in morning trading.

TNK-BP deal completed