Kremlin says Rosneft’s management reshuffle necessary to lift company to a new level
MOSCOW, Russia - Eduard Khudainatov, Rosneft’s new president, has effective from today started the official dispensation of his direct duties in the company, thus putting an end to the rampant speculations about possible changes at the top management level of the country’s largest oil company.
The swirling rumors about the probable sacking of now ex-Rosneft President Sergei Bogdanchikov finally became a stark reality last weekend, when the shareholders that gathered on September 5, celebrated in Russia as the “Oil and Gas Industry Workers Day,” instead of extending the incumbent president’s contract decided to appoint Khudainatov as their company’s new president.
It is necessary to note here that the fate of the former Rosneft CEO was predetermined, when Russian President Dmitry Medvedev on the eve of the shareholders meeting nominated Khudainatov, who till September 5 was Rosneft’s first vice president, for the company’s topmost post.
This unambiguous position of the Kremlin on the new management candidacy was decisive as the government holds the controlling shareholding stake in the company via Rosneftgaz, a state-affiliated company, which holds the majority stake of 75.16% of Rosneft voting shares.
Commenting on the new appointment, Igor Sechin, Russia’s first deputy prime minister, who also doubles as Rosneft board chairman, noted that life and work experiences combined with profound knowledge of the industry in general and Rosneft in particular will enable the new president to remove the company to a new and higher stage in its development.
Khudainatov is a typical oil and gas career executive, having worked in top management positions in different leading oil and gas companies in the Russian industry, including Gazprom, since 1993. When on ‘sabbaticals’ from the oil-and-gas industry, he worked as a high-ranking government official in different capacities, most prominent of which were deputy head of the Nefteyugansk city administration, the Office of the Russian Presidential Representative in the Northwest Federal District as a federal inspector for the oil-rich Nenets Autonomous District, etc.
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