Oil of Russia

Note to Readers

Vagit Alekperov needs no introduction to anyone in the oil business. As president of LUKOIL, Russia’s largest non-state-owned oil and gas company, he is well known for his business acumen, inexhaustible vigor, and genuine charm. Even if your life is only slightly affected by petroleum (and I am willing to bet that if you are holding this book—it is), you are probably familiar with his name.

It may be less well known that Vagit is also a member of the Russian Academy of Natural Sciences. Over the past decade, Academician Alekperov has led a team of researchers seeking to salvage the history of the Russian oil industry from the oubliette of tsarist and communist-era archives. On reflection, this distraction from the demands of business reveals itself as a wise investment. In an industry where project-planning horizons are decades long and global in scope and where quotidian acts often reach historic proportions, a keen appreciation of history is not just a reward but a prerequisite for success. We can be grateful that Vagit is sharing his insights into a subject that has long suffered from regrettable obscurity and lack of access.

Russia’s oil industry has always been important to Russia and to the global energy supply system as a whole. Its image, however, has so often been distorted by a combination of ideology, fear, and romance that many promising commercial opportunities have withered or failed to materialize in the resulting atmosphere of uncertainty and mistrust. My personal and business experience in Russia has been decidedly positive. I credit this in no small part to my relationship with Vagit and his company. Thus, it is a special pleasure to see his unfiltered account of the Russian oil industry make its debut in English. I am hopeful that the understanding it fosters will strengthen and multiply constructive cooperation with our Russian partners and help promote global energy and environmental security.

Oil of Russia: Past, Present and Future is both a result and a welcome symbol of Russia’s increasing openness and renewed engagement in the world.

Jim Mulva

Chairman and Chief Executive Officer

ConocoPhillips

December, 2010