Gazprom Neft
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Gazprom Neft (Russian: Газпром нефть), until 2005 called Sibneft (Russian: Сибнефть), is Russia's fifth largest oil producing and refining company. It was created by presidential decree in 1995 and privatized through a series of auctions in the subsequent two years.
Roman Abramovich and Boris Berezovsky acquired shares in Sibneft by bidding in the auctions through several front companies that they set up for the purpose. These transactions, widely denounced as unethical or illegal, were approved by Boris Yeltsin who had good relations with Berezovsky and Abramovich at that time. According to General Alexander Korzhakov, former chief of Yeltsin's security service, Abramovich manages finances for Yeltsin and his family.
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. Sibneft's central office is located in Moscow; however, the company retains its official corporate address in the city of Omsk. The company is going to move their headquarters to Saint Petersburg in the near future.
Sibneft has spent the past seven years spinning-off non-core assets, including Russia's largest pork meat farm, Omsky Bacon, as well as various service enterprises. The company also implemented a broad program to institute international best practices across its businesses and work closely with major international oil field services firms.
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.
Sibneft remains the largest employer in Omsk and Noyabrsk. It is also an official sponsor of the CSKA-Moscow football team, the Avangard Omsk ice hockey team, and a variety of running, mini-football, nordic skiing and motorcross events. The stock trades on MICEX under the ticker SIBN.
In September 2005 Russia's largest corporate takeover occurred when Gazprom (in which the Russian government obtained a majority stake the previous June) agreed to buy 72.663% of Sibneft shares for US$ 13.01 billion. Later Sibneft was renamed to Gazprom Neft.
