TNK-BP board member quits over shareholders row

MOSCOW (Reuters) - Russian TNK-BP's board member Jean-Luc Vermeulen has resigned from his position citing a deepening conflict between the oil firm's shareholders, a group of Russian billionaires and BP (BP.L), sources said on Friday.

Sources close to the company said Vermeulen, an independent director on the 10-seat board, resigned on Thursday.

"Discussions that I had tonight with several advisers led me to the conclusion that I was wrong in believing I could still help with settling the dispute between TNK-BP shareholders," one source quoted Vermeulen as telling other board members in a letter.

TNK-BP failed to hold a board meeting on Thursday after BP rejected a demand from the Russian shareholders to replace TNK-BP's long-serving chief executive Robert Dudley.

(Reporting by Dmitry Zhdannikov; editing by Amie Ferris-Rotman)