BP, the UK oil giant, today confirmed that its offices in Moscow have been raided by Russian security agents for the second time in two months.

Members of Russia’s Federal Security Service (FSB) arrived at the oil giant’s office this morning and began searching for documents.

A spokesman at BP, said: “Formally we are cooperating with them fully and it is not getting in the way. Our business is carrying on as normal.”

He added that the raid was part of a “continuation of a criminal espionage investigation” that led to similar searches in March of the offices of both BP and TNK-BP, its Russian joint venture.

A Russian employee of TNK-BP was subsequently charged with industrial espionage.

BP’s representative office in Moscow employs around 50 people that help oversee a variety of Russian businesses that have no connection with TNK-BP. These include a joint venture with Rosneft which has interests in the Sakhalin project in the Russian Far East.

Meanwhile, TNK-BP, which was established in 2003, is half-owned by BP with the remainder controlled by a group of Russian billionaires, who many believe are likely to sell their stake to a state-controlled group, possibly Gazprom, the Kremlin-controlled gas monopoly.

TNK-BP has been under pressure recently in Russia, where the Kremlin has been seeking to bolster its position in the oil and gas sector.

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