The chief executive of British-Russian oil company TNK-BP has been disqualified from working for two years by a Moscow court, Russian news agencies reported on Thursday.

Robert Dudley will be banned from carrying out his duties for this period, the agencies quoting the company as saying.

TNK-BP is Russia's third largest oil company and accounts for around a quarter of BP's worldwide output.

For months now, the firm has been riven by a dispute between shareholders for control and mounting legal troubles over working conditions and visas for its non-Russian workers.

TNK-BP is jointly controlled by the British oil major on one hand and three Russian financiers, Viktor Vekselberg, Mikhail Fridman and Len Blavatnik, on the other.

The trio has been pressing for the removal of Dudley, whom they accuse of being partial to BP.

Dudley, who left Russia suddenly at the end of July, denounced the ruling and said he planned to continue running the company from abroad, the Interfax-ANI agency reported.

"I am disappointed, but not surprised, that controls by the works inspectorate have led to my disqualifiation as chief executive of TNK-BP," he was quoted as saying.

"It is another example of administrative interference...and few people will tell you the opposite," he said.

"I will continue to run the company from day to day, to help the shareholders settle their differences," he added.

He said he was convinced that "minor failings" that had motivated his disqualification had not harmed a single one of his group's 66.000 workers.

The battle for control of TNK-BP is being seen by foreign companies and governments as a test of the investment climate in Russia's lucrative energy industry under President Dmitry Medvedev.

There have been rumours that Russian state-owned gas and oil giants Gazprom and Rosneft are interested in taking a stake in TNK-BP. The rumours have been denied by the authorities, including President Dmitri Medvedev.