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Gold/Mining/Energy : LUKOY The largest oil company in the world LukOil unknown -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: Fred Levine who wrote (869)	8/29/2001 10:24:23 AM
From: Fred Levine	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 914

This partially explains why LUKOY isn't at 110...From the NY Times: August 29, 2001 Russian Natural Gas Monopoly Appears to Suffer a Setback By SABRINA TAVERNISE OSCOW, Aug. 28 — Russia's natural gas monopoly Gazprom appears to have lost the battle to regain control over a Siberian gas field in a setback for its new chief executive. Gazprom's board voted last month to buy back control of Zapsibgazprom, a gas producer that owned a license to the Yuzhno-Russkoye field in Siberia, with reserves equal to one-fortieth of Gazprom's total. Gazprom lost control of the company a year ago in a series of transactions that minority shareholders say were intended to benefit members of the previous management team. A newspaper report in Vedomosti today said that the managers of Zapsibgazprom had secretly sold off the company's main asset, the license to the Yuzhno-Russkoye field, without informing Gazprom. Hiding important assets in obscure subsidiaries is a favorite strategy used by Russian companies to thwart hostile takeover bids. In a phone interview today, the deputy general director of Zapsibgazprom, Nikolai Konyev, confirmed that the company's stake in the unit that holds the license to the gas field has fallen to 11 percent, down from 100 percent in 1998. Zapsibgazprom, based in the Siberian city of Tyumen, owns the rest of the stake only indirectly, through subsidiary companies, Mr. Konyev said. He refused to reveal the names of the companies or when the stake was reduced. Minority shareholders in Gazprom are watching the company's new chief executive, Alexei Miller, for signs he will halt what President Vladimir V. Putin has called an outflow of "enormous sums" from Gazprom. Shareholders suspect the previous management of diverting assets to companies linked to themselves. Mr. Putin put Mr. Miller in charge of Gazprom in May. In particular, a Florida-based trading company called Itera has grown into one of Russia's largest producers of gas through stakes in fields formerly controlled by Gazprom, raising suspicions among shareholders that it is linked to management. Analysts said the loss indicates the company's new management will not take a tough stance on returning Gazprom's missing assets. Restoring control over Zapsibgazprom is now "fairly meaningless for Gazprom shareholders," wrote the Moscow-based investment bank United Financial Group (news/quote) in a report. Itera is among the gas field's new shareholders, according to the report in Vedomosti. Russia's Federal Securities Commission confirmed that one of its divisions received a filing from the unit that owns the field, detailing ownership. An Itera spokesman said today that two of the new shareholders belong to a conglomerate in which Itera owns a stake of less than 51 percent. Even during last month's meeting, shareholders were uncertain about what entity actually owned the field. On a conference call after a meeting with management, Boris Fyodorov, who represents minority shareholders, told investors that he had asked what size stake Zapsibgazprom had in the unit that holds the license. "The answer was hilarious," he said: " `We don't know.' " fred