Kremlin extends grip on oil

MOSCOW – Mikhail Gutseriyev, a Russian oil billionaire who offended the Kremlin, is on the run, claiming he is the victim of political persecution.

His private company Russneft, once the country’s seventh-largest petroleum firm, has been hobbled by back tax charges and seized by a court.

The tribulations of Mr. Gutseriyev, who has reportedly fled to London ahead of an international arrest warrant, bear more than a passing resemblance to the fate of Mikhail Khodorkovsky, whose arrest three years ago led to the effective renationalization of his Yukos oil empire.
Since then, the state has moved from a tiny minority stake to direct control of 44 percent of Russia’s oil production, according to a recent survey by Russia’s Alpha Bank. Another wave of state takeovers is in the wind, experts say, and Russneft has been targeted for incorporation into a new mega-oil firm to be run by the Kremlin.

But confusion surrounds the disposition of Russneft, which has reportedly been purchased by aluminum magnate Oleg Deripaska, a close ally of President Vladimir Putin, for some $6 billion. Last week, a Moscow court reaffirmed its seizure of the company, suggesting another contender for control may be waiting in the wings. Experts say that Mr. Putin’s intention to step down early next year may have brought a Kremlin power struggle into the open.

“Before, there was a precarious balance, but now it’s a complete mess in the Kremlin,” says Mikhail Krutikhin, an expert with Russian Energy, a Moscow consulting firm. “Putin seems to be a lame duck, and factions seem to be breaking away and acting on their own.”

Christian Science Monitor