Ex-Chancellor Becomes Rosneft Chairman
Russian state-run oil giant Rosneft last week appointed the controversial former German Chancellor Gerhard Schroder as chairman of its board.
Schroder has been chairman of the original Nord Stream pipeline venture’s shareholders committee since 2006. Rosneft said his appointment as one of its independent directors on September 29 will add international expertise to its company. Igor Sechin remains Rosneft CEO.
Schroder was Chancellor from 1998 until 2005 in governments led by the Social Democrats (SPD) which he headed.
His appointment, following that earlier this year of Vlada Rusakova, former Gazprom strategy chief as a vice president in Rosneft in charge of gas, may be seen as underpinning its planned expansion into gas. BP and Rosneft said this June they want to work together on exporting Russian gas to Europe.
Germany is an important market for Russian gas and oil exports. But Schroder’s decision to accept the new job though has been criticised by Norbert Rottgen, a senior politician in the governing CDU, and other parties including the SPD, according to German broadcaster Deutsche Welle.
Rosneft shareholders at an extraordinary general meeting September 29 elected an expanded board of 11 directors, an increase from its previous nine-strong board. It includes Rosneft CEO Igor Sechin, plus others representing shareholders such as Russian energy minister Alexander Novak, BP CEO Bob Dudley, Glencore CEO Ivan Glasenberg, and Qatar Foundation president Faisal al Suwaidi.
Glasenberg and al Suwaidi’s seats may possibly transfer to China's CEFC, following a divestment to it of a Glencore/QIA stake in Rosneft.
Schroder, Nord Stream 2 company chief Matthias Warnig, and former ExxonMobil finance chief Donald Humphreys are Rosneft's three independent directors. Rosneft CEO Sechin and Schroder are both friends of Russian President Vladimir Putin, while Warnig worked for the former East German secret police (Stasi) at the time when Putin served the Russian KGB in Dresden.
Mark Smedley