(Adds details, background)
ST PETERSBURG, Russia, May 24 (Reuters) - Rosneft and BP signed an agreement on Saturday to jointly explorefor hard-to-recover oil in Russia, the first major deal for thestate-run Russian oil company since the West imposed sanctionson Moscow.
Rosneft chief executive Igor Sechin, a close ally ofPresident Vladimir Putin, has been targeted by U.S. sanctionsalong with some other members of Putin's inner circle followingRussia's annexation of Crimea from Ukraine in March.
With Putin watching, Sechin and BP Russia head DavidCampbell signed an agreement at the St Petersburg InternationalEconomic Forum to jointly explore for hard-to-recover oil in theVolga-Urals region of central Russia.
Rosneft will hold 51 percent of the joint venture which willexplore the Domanic formation, and BP will hold 49 percent. BPholds an almost 20 percent stake in Rosneft.
BP chief executive Bob Dudley was present at the signing butdid not sign it himself. Earlier on Saturday, he said BP stoodby its Russian investments and said the sanctions on Sechin hadnot affected BP's business with Rosneft.
Global energy executives, including Royal Dutch Shell's Ben van Beurden, Total's Christophe deMargerie, Eni's Claudio Descalzi and ExxonMobilDevelopment Company's Neil Duffin, have kept a low profileduring the forum.
Washington, and some other governments, had urged seniorexecutives not to attend the forum.
Rosneft has previously reached agreements with ExxonMobil of the United States and Norway's Statoil. toexplore for hard-to-recover oil that is seen by Russia as asource of future oil production growth. (Reporting by Alexei Anishchuk and Katya Golubkova, Editing byTimothy Heritage)
BP (BP.)
