Rio Tinto's Skinner buys

Rio Tinto's chairman Paul Skinner, who was today reported to have pulled out of the running to become chairman of oil giant BP, has bought £77,520 worth of shares in the miner.

Skinner bought 4,000 shares at 1,969.50p, while non-executive director Lord Kerr acquired 4,000 shares at a price of 1,938.00p each.

The group also announced that executive director Dick Evans bought 10,000 American Depositary Receipts (ADRs) last Friday. Each ADR represents four Rio Tinto ordinary shares each.

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Skinner was expected to be unveiled at the BP AGM on April 16, but reports today suggest that BP chairman Peter Sutherland has now indicated he is prepared to stay on for a few months while a new short-list of candidates is drawn up after Skinner pulled out.

"It is unlikely that he (Skinner) will be on the list," a source close to the company told Reuters, but analysts suggest finding some one else could be a lengthy process as candidates with the requisite multinational experience and heavyweight political clout are in short supply.

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