Glencore Becomes Co-owner of Azerbaijani Fields of Gutseriev

Mikhail Gutsiriev owner of the oil companies RussNeft and Nephthys - RussNeft said the final sale of 49% stake in the Swiss trader Glencore.

Glencore shares will be transferred to the oil company for debt of $ 900 million.

Russneft and Glencore are long-term partners. The trader credited Mikhail Gutseriev, when the oil company was created in 2002. Glencore also sells all the oil to Russneft.

Gutseriev explained that a business combination occurs after the decision of all questions with a partner - a trading company Glencore, which owns stakes in a number of subsidiaries of RussNeft.

The owner of RussNeft stressed that overseas subsidiaries continue to work actively. "In Azerbaijan, Kazakhstan, Mauritania, and in other regions there is no crisis, e.g. in the same Algeria. There the exchange rate is stable and everything is OK. There you can develop," he said.

RussNeft established in 2002 already appeared in Azerbaijan in 2006 and signed a contract PSA for fields Zig and Hovsan located in the southern part of the Absheron Peninsula.

RussNeft was breathtaking success in Azerbaijan – in a very short time it was able to get in on 17 onshore fields (with operatorship in five operating companies), and by PSA-contracts with a term of 25 years.

Later, because of certain legal problems for Gutseriev in Russia, there was some conversion of assets of RussNeft in Azerbaijan. It was replaced by Global Energy, which is registered in an offshore zone of the British Virgin Islands.

Currently, the company Global Energy Azerbaijan Ltd. unites the following mining companies on land: Absheron Operating Company Limited (developing the fields Zig and Hovsan), Karasu Operating Company (Kelametdin and Mishovdag), Kura Valley Operating Company (Padar-Harem) , Neftechala Investments Limited (Neftchala, Khilli, Durovdag-Babazanan), Binagadi Oil Company (Binagadi, Gyrmaki, Chahnaglar, Sulutepe, Masazyr, Fatmai, Shabandag and Sianshor).

Glencore also worked in Azerbaijan. The company was the exclusive trader of copper concentrate produced in Azerbaijan in the field Kedabek and trader for sale of Azerbaijani oil. But in May 2014 it gave the right of the exclusive trader of copper concentrate to the mining group SA based in Geneva. So it was represented in Azerbaijan. In fact, this Evraz Group S.A. is an international vertically integrated steel and mining company, where the main beneficiaries as of June 1, 2014 are the Russian businessman Roman Abramovich (30.99%), the Chairman of the Board of Directors Alexander Abramov (21.55%), CEO Alexander Frolov (10.76%), Gennady Kozovoy (5.69%) and Alexander Vagin (5.63%).

The latest reports on the sale of Azerbaijani oil from Glencore were recorded in February 2009. By this time, SOCAR Trading established in Geneva in 2008, which owned 75% of the sales of Azerbaijani oil, came to the scene. A key role in the company is played by a former colleague of Putin Valery Golovushkin. In 2012, the rapidly growing company was forced to join SOCAR after the peremptory demand of the Swiss government to ensure transparency.

A similar fate befell the company of the mainly Russian oil trader Gunvor, which was controlled by a former colleague of President Putin Gennady Timchenko, says Forbes. In March 2014 Timchenko to avoid US sanctions against him sold his 44% stake in Gunvor to the cofounder of the company Torbjorn Tornqvist, which has now become the holder of 87% of the shares.

A few years ago Gunvor, thanks to the patronage of the Kremlin, moved Glencore in the former Soviet Union to the second position. However, the situation with Russneft, SOCAR Trading and Gunvor showed that Glencore returns the lost positions.

Glencore International AG established on the basis of Marc Rich + Co in 1994 begins to actively work in Russia, first acquiring industrial assets, and then taking part in the management of enterprises. The company is headquartered in Switzerland and has one of the leading offices in the United States. -0-