BP’s hopes of making the Arctic a key part of its recovery plan were dealt a major blow today by the failure of a share swap and exploration deal with Russian oil group Rosneft.

BP was today holding last-ditch talks over a plan to rescue a multi-billion pound Arctic exploration and share-swap deal.

Oil giant BP today moved closer to salvaging a proposed tie-up with Russian government-owned Rosneft after appeasing a group of angered shareholders.

The boss of BP’s fractious Russian joint venture has been banned from working in the country for two years, the oil company said today.