BP (British Petroleum) faced waves of protests at its shareholder meeting in London on Thursday, April 14, as fishermen from the U.S. Gulf Coast complained about poor compensation for the oil spill and institutional investors claimed executive pay packets were excessive.

But the company gained some critical breathing room on another major problem - at the last minute, it received an extension to the Thursday deadline to complete a stalled major deal in Russia.

Just ahead of the annual general meeting, BP said Russia's OAO Rosneft had agreed to move the deadline to complete a $16 billion share swap to May 16. The deal was blocked in court by a quartet of Russian billionaires, BP's partners in the older TNK-BP venture.

Rosneft had initially refused to budge on the deadline, throwing the deal into doubt and casting a large shadow over the shareholder meeting - the first since the Macondo well blowout in the Gulf almost a year ago that sparked off the biggest oil spill in U.S. history.

Rosneft spokesman Rustam Kazharov confirmed the deadline extension, but declined to say whether the company planned to look for another partner to replace BP in the deal to explore Russia's Arctic region.

Adding to BP's woes, two of the world's biggest pension funds have added their names to a growing list of investors planning to vote against the company's annual report at the meeting. Complaints include the level of executive bonuses and the re-election of a key safety executive.

Live drums and brass provided a soundtrack for the crowds of protesters gathered outside the meeting's building, watched over by a light police presence, the Associated Press reports.