A Moscow arbitration court on Tuesday upheld a lower court ruling to refund BP`s Russian venture, TNK-BP, 9.7 billion roubles ($408.2 million) it paid as value added tax in 2006, the firm said on Tuesday.

The victory comes as Russia`s third largest oil producer, half owned by BP, is facing increased pressure from state authorities, which analysts say are putting pressure on the firm to help a state control firm buy a major stake in it.

Under Russian law, export operations are exempt from the 18-percent VAT and the tax service must refund the tax after companies submit relevant documents. In practice, firms often have to go to courts to get the funds back.

TNK-BP TNBPI.RTS praised the ruling.

"The VAT refund has become more accurate since last year. Refund refusals for large oil companies have become insignificant and amount to just 10-20 million roubles a month," the spokesman said.

In April, the tax service hit TNK-BP with a 6 billion roubles back tax claim for 2004-2005. The firm paid $1.4 billion in back taxes for 2002-2003 in 2006. Those claims were not VAT-related.

In March, the firm`s offices were raided by the Federal Security Service (FSB), the successor to the Soviet KGB, and an employee was arrested on an industrial espionage charge.

Analysts have said the state was putting pressure on TNK-BP`s Russian shareholders to sell out to a large state company, such as gas monopoly Gazprom or oil major Rosneft though the Russian owners have repeatedly denied this.
sections: Economics