Russian oil giant Lukoil’s number one Vagit Alekperov has resigned. The company announces this in a press release, without revealing the reason for the election of the oligarch, head of the energy group that owns, among other things, the largest refinery in Italy, that of Priolo (Syracuse). Alekperov, born in Baku, Azerbaijan, is the fourth richest man in the country and Deputy Minister of State for the Oil and Gas Industry of the Soviet Union, according to Bloomberg’s Billionaires Index with an estimated net worth of almost $23 billion. After the dissolution of the USSR in late 1991, he took control of three major oil fields and founded Lukoil, the second largest Russian oil company after Rosneft and the largest non-state. Often photographed alongside Putin, he was part of the group of oligarchs summoned to the Kremlin in late February, in the days leading up to the invasion of Ukraine. On March 5, in a statement to shareholders, employees and customers, Lukoil’s board of directors called for an accelerated end to the armed conflict in Ukraine. We express our sincere condolences to all the victims affected by this tragedy – the Council wrote – we strongly support a lasting ceasefire and a resolution of the issues through serious negotiations and diplomacy.
Lukoil, title suspended in the City of London
Lukoil chairman and board member V. Alekperov announced his decision to resign from office, they said in a statement. Lukoil, the second Russian oil company also listed on the London Stock Exchange from which it has been banned since March 2 due to international sanctions, is down about 3.7 percent on the Moscow Stock Exchange around 3pm on April 21. In a statement to the stock exchange, reports The Guardian, the Russian oil company said that Alekperov, who was on good terms with Vladimir Putin, officially informed the company of his decision to step down on Thursday.
Sanctions against Alekperov
Lukoil is among 27 companies whose shares were suspended by the London Stock Exchange in early March to avoid market turmoil. The United States has already imposed sanctions on Russia’s energy sector, while the European Union, much more dependent on Russian hydrocarbons, is considering them. Alekperov’s name is not on the EU and US sanctions lists, but the oligarch has been subject to British sanctions since April 13, when London introduced 178 new measures against Moscow and Russian citizens near the Kremlin. probably – The Guardian analyzes – that the (personal, editor’s note) sanctions imposed on Alekperov made it difficult for him to fulfill his duties as president of the company. The restrictions prevent him, or any boat or plane he owns, from entering the UK and EU, where Lukoil has important business interests. Sanctions against another billionaire, Roman Abramovich, prompted him to put up for sale the Chelsea club he bought in 2003. Many Western oligarchs and high-ranking officials were sanctioned by the West and their assets frozen, but Alekperov was the first head of a group of this class in the hydrocarbon industry to resign.