<DIV>I basically agree with Chris. However, Gazprom's purchase of Sibneft remains opaque. My sense is that after Abramovich paid himself a dividend of $2.3 billion he transferred ownership of Sibneft (how much? I don't know) to Putin's inner circle. Thus, the $13 billion paid for Sibneft came from a state-owned company to Kremlin insiders (basically, the state paid itself with huge western loans). ss <lookoverhere1@yahoo.com> wrote: <BLOCKQUOTE class=replbq style="PADDING-LEFT: 5px; MARGIN-LEFT: 5px; BORDER-LEFT: #1010ff 2px solid"> --- uvj@vsnl.com wrote: > > What's your take (and Peter's) on the following news > report on Gazprom's take over of Sibneft? Is it all > part of Putin's retirement plans? -:) > Peter will have a lot more to say about this than I do, but we have at least in part 1) further consolidation of Russia's energy resources in the hands of the Kremlin and 2) Abramovich being rewarded for being a good boy.* The Gazprom-Lukoil-Sibneft monster is really reaching Behemoth sizes. Remember that the Kremlin views its energy resource position as a/the main lever of foreign policy. And of course it is the cornerstone of the economy. They don't want it in the hands of gangsters who run a separate foreign policy anymore. * I think Abramovich may want out of the oligarch business. He'll retire and live in a giant yacht off the English coast and fly in to see Chelsea play, revelling in his astronomical wealth. ;) I must say that, if one could point to a "good" oligarch, Abramovich is the one. He ran Chukotka like a giant daycare center. Nu, zayats, pogodi! __________________________________ Yahoo! Mail - PC Magazine Editors' Choice 2005 http://mail.yahoo.com ___________________________________ http://mailman.lbo-talk.org/mailman/listinfo/lbo-talk </BLOCKQUOTE></DIV> <hr size=1>Yahoo! for Good <a href="http://store.yahoo.com/redcross-donate3/">Click here to donate</a> to the Hurricane Katrina relief effort.