31-05-05

On 27 May, the head of Chukotka and Chelsea football club, Roman Abramovich, was given a talking-to in the Kremlin. The beginning of this formidable meeting was recorded by television cameras.

As we can see, Abramovich visited the Kremlin not only because of Chukotka. It seems that the Russian oil and gas sector is facing changes, probably with high-profile cases. Several weeks ago there were reports that TNK-BP allegedly had problems with carrying out the licence agreement on the development of the famous Kovyktinskoye oil and gas deposit. Suddenly the danger loomed that the licence to develop the deposit would be withdrawn, in favour of Gazprom, naturally.

These rumours have been barely noticed, but recently, the Gazprom chairman met the British Petroleum chief executive, John Browne. They spoke about a possible purchase by Gazprom of the Russian $ 4 bn share in TNK-BP under the condition that the latter keeps the Kovyktinskoye deposit. In other words, oligarchs Mikhail Fridman and ViktorVekselberg seem to be ready to leave the oil industry before it's too late. This is the best option for them, since they are facing the danger of losing both oil and money.

Against this background, other rumours have appeared: It has also been suggested to Abramovich that he leave the oil business and sell Sibneft to a famous state company. The price of the offer is about $ 5 bn.

So, out of the old oil oligarchs, it is only the head of LUKoil, Vagit Alekperov, who might still be afloat in the near future. As for Abramovich, according to our information, he has not yet decided whether he wants to stay with Chukotka or move to London for good.

Parting with Sibneft will probably help him make up his mind sooner.

Source: BBC Monitoring via COMTEX