Kremlin Oil Control Quest May End Badly

Reuters reported that it is likely that Russia’s Kremlin will soon transfer even more oil assets to government control, a move that some believe will damage the industry in the long term.

As quoted in the market news:

The state’s share in the oil industry would rise to over 50 percent if Rosneft buys out oil major BP (BP.L) from its troubled TNK-BP (TNBP.MM) joint venture with a group of Soviet-born tycoons.

The $20 billion-plus deal is widely expected to be followed by a transaction of a similar size in which Rosneft buys out the rest of TNK-BP owned by billionaires Mikhail Fridman, German Khan, Viktor Vekselberg and Len Blavatnik.

Putin’s critics have repeatedly accused the Kremlin of creating inefficient state monsters over the past decade and now even some of Putin’s close allies question the strategy.

Click here to read the full Reuters report.