Gazprom Neft

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Okhta Center construction site of the new office for Gazprom Neft. The inscription says: "Okhta Center is the project of XXI century". Three types of flags are there: of Saint Petersburg, of Russia and of Gazprom

Gazprom Neft (RTS:SIBN) (Russian: Газпром нефть) is the fifth largest oil producing and refining company in Russia. It's the oil arm of Gazprom, which owns 80% of Gazprom Neft's shares with the option to buy the rest of 20% for US$ 3.7 billion at any time until April 2009 from EniNeftgaz, a joint subsidiary of Italian companies Eni and Enel.^[1]

Gazprom Neft's central office is located in Moscow; however, the company is already registered in St. Petersburg where it also has an office. Upon the completion of their new office building, known as Gazprom City in St. Petersburg, Gazprom Neft is going to move its headquarters to Saint Petersburg in the near future. It is currently the largest employer in Omsk and Noyabrsk.

1 History
2 New headquarters in St. Petersburg
3 Management
4 Sponsorship
5 See also
6 References
7 External links

[edit] History

Gazprom Neft was created under the name Sibneft (Russian: Сибнефть) in 1995 by Presidential Decree №872, issued in August 24, 1995. A government resolution was signed on September 29, and the State Property Committee on October 11 ordered that the state's shares in oil producing enterprise Noyabrskneftegas, the Omsk Refinery, exploration enterprise Noyabrskneftegasgeophysica and marketing company Omsknefteprodukt all be transferred to Sibneft.

Sibneft initially combined Russia's largest oil refining complex in Omsk (dba Omsky NPZ), an oil and gas production enterprise based in the city of Noyabrsk in the Yamal-Nenets autonomous district (Noyabrskneftegas), a geological exploration enterprise and an oil products distribution network.

In 1996-1997 Sibneft was privatised through a series of Loans-for-Shares' auctions, and it was acquired by Roman Abramovich and Boris Berezovsky for US$100 million, bidding through several front companies that they set up for the purpose.

Sibneft twice attempted a merger with Yukos, to form Russia's largest oil company YukosSibneft. The first attempt in 1998 failed due to a dispute over management. The process was well under way the second time in 2003 when the federal government cracked down on Yukos, and Sibneft's shareholders called off the merger in November of that year.

In September 2005, Russia's largest corporate takeover occurred when Gazprom bought 72.663% of Sibneft's shares for US$13.01 billion.^{[citation needed]} Later, Sibneft was renamed Gazprom Neft.

[edit] New headquarters in St. Petersburg

On 15 November 2005, Gazprom CEO Alexei Miller and Saint Petersburg governor Valentina Matvienko announced that Gazprom Neft is going to participate in development of the Okhta Center business center including a 300 metre high skyscraper with its headquarters on the right bank of the Neva River.

This location of the new headquarters is across the water opposite the office of the Governor of St. Petersburg, the Saint Petersburg City Administration and the Smolny historic landmark in St. Petersburg. Although current regulations forbid construction of a building taller that 42 metres (or no taller than 48 meters with expertise approval) there, the project is going on.

St. Petersburg city pays 49% funding for construction of the Okhta Center, on the basis that Gazprom Neft is registered here and is currently the largest taxpayer and a big employer, so the city budget is getting adequate benefits. Gazprom Neft, besides being the largest taxpayer in the city, pays 51% for construction of the new headquarters in St. Petersburg.^[2]

[edit] Management

On 22 November 2006, the Board of Directors terminated in advance the authority of its president Alexander Ryazanov and replaced him with Alexander Dyukov.^[3]

As of December 2006, the Board of Directors of Gazprom Neft consists of Alexei Miller (Chairman), Andrey Kruglov, Alexander Ryazanov, Kirill Seleznyov, Vasiliy Podyuk, Konstantin Chuychenko, Nikolay Dubik, Yuriy Starodubtsev (a former KGB/FSB officer) and Yuriy Khudyakov.^[4]

As of December 2006, its Management Committee consists of Alexander Dyukov (the Company’s acting president), Tatyana Breeva (Vice President for Finance), Reval Mukhametzyanov (Vice President for Exploration and Production), Leonid Reznikov (Vice President), Anatoly Cherner (Vice President for Refining and Marketing) and Yevgeny Poltorak (Vice President).^[5]

[edit] Sponsorship

Sibneft was the official sponsor of the CSKA-Moscow football team. In 2005 Gazprom bought the majority stake in FC Zenit, prompting the cancellation of the sponsorship deal between Sibneft and fellow Russian Premier Division football side CSKA. Gazprom Neft also sponsors the Avangard Omsk ice hockey team, and a variety of running, mini-football, Nordic skiing and motorcross events.