Sibneft

Sibneft (Сибне́фть in Russian) is Russia's third major oil producing and refining company. It was created during the mass privatization of the early 1990s, initially combining Russia's largest oil refining complex in Omsk (dba Omsknefteorgsintez) with an oil and gas field in Tyumen Oblast (Noyabrskneftegaz), and headquartered in Omsk. After a mysterious drowning of Omsk Refinery's General Director Mr. Litskevich, power struggles moved control of the company elsewhere. Even the Omsk subsidiary changed address to Lyubino, an Omsk suburb, to avoid paying Omsk city taxes. (Once the inconvenient mayor was ousted, the subsidiary "moved back" to Omsk in 2005.) Sibneft proceeded to acquire most of the region's significantly profitable enterprises, including Russia's largest pork meat farm, Siberian Bacon. The operations have been highly controversial, enough to cause The New York Times to publish a front-page article. However, any such publicity and all of the court cases have been shut down by the region's political authorities, who have very strong ties to the company.

It has been reported that Roman Abramovich, Russia's richest man since Khodorkovsky's Yukos had been taken down, holds the majority stake in Sibneft. A 20% share is believed to be held by Konstantin Polezhaev, the son of Omsk Region Governor Leonid Polezhaev.

Sibneft has twice attempted a merger with Yukos, to form Russia's largest oil company YukSib. The process was well under way the second time when the Federal government cracked down on Yukos, and Sibneft gradually pulled out in 2004.

Sibneft remains the largest employer in Omsk. It is also an official sponsor of the hockey team Avangard, and the Siberian International Marathon. The stock trades on MICEX under the ticker SIBN.

External link

• Sibneft official site