Professional Documents
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Russian Oil Industries
Russian Oil Industries
Ê
he first large-scale entrepreneurs were foreigners.
he Rothschilds
and the Nobels built their fortunes in this way, as did Shell.
Ê
his cozy relationship ended in 1905, Due to Revolution of 1905 ,
foreign investors began to pull out of the country.
Ê Costs and profits did not enter anywhere into the calculations,
since inputs were allocated and prices set by the central planning
agencies.
Ê
he structure of this system-hierarchical authority, conflicting
goals, and split responsibility-pushed the oil industry inevitably
towards inefficiency .
Ê
he Russian government, however, retained
ownership of all resources.
Ê Phibro Energy Production, Inc. is a wholly owned
subsidiary of Salomon Inc, the New York- based
investment firm.
Ê Under the terms of the joint venture agreement, all oil "under the
curve," would go to VNG, which would sell the oil to its traditional
Russian customers.
Ê All oil "above the curve" would be exported and remaining after-cost
proceeds divided among the venture¶s partners in accordance with
their ownership interest.
Ê Conoco¶s involvement in the Soviet Union began late in 1989, when the
company acquired several detailed geological studies and began to choose
the most interesting targets for potential investment.
Ê Under the terms of the agreement, all partners to the venture would receive
cash through the declaration of dividends by the Board of Founders,
composed of Conoco and Russian members.
Ê Getting the proper idea about the amount of oil reserved was a
problem for foreign company. For example: in 1991, White Nights¶ two
producing fields proved to be far less productive than the Russian
geological surveys had indicated.
Ê
he biggest problem was increased taxation. When White Light was
formed in November 1990, it was subject to four taxes. By early 1992,
however, the number of taxes had soared to a dozen. By the spring of
1992, White Nights was paying approximately 70% of its gross
revenue in taxes to the Russian government.
Ê White Night¶s Russian partner VNG had problem with §
.
VNG was required by the state to sell oil to its traditional customers,
most of whom were large state-owned refineries. But because these
refineries were not being paid by their customers, they could no
longer afford to pay VNG for their purchases. As a result of these and
other factors, the White Nights venture began running significant
deficits.
Ê
he taxation issue remained painfully unresolved for Polar Lights.
Although Conoco had ultimately negotiated a formal exemption from
Russia¶s onerous export tax, it was not clear whether, and for how
long.
Ê As getting the proper idea about the amount of oil reserved was a
problem for foreign companies, they could run their own geological
research and exploration before entering into or investing in the oil
industry in Russia. For example, Conoco did not just accept the
technical and geological information provided by the Russians.
hey
sent their own team to re-evaluate and test potential production sites.