The Russian state-owned company,
Rosneft, reached separate agreements in October 2012 to buy TNK-BP from BP and
a group of Russian billionaires. According to the Wall Street Journal, the deal represents “an acquisition that
promises to reshape the Russian oil industry in favor of the state-owned
company.” The Russian federal government was set to own or control nearly 50%
of the Russian oil industry. Lest it be supposed that the legacy of inefficient
state enterprise might compromise that industry in Russia, the state would have
the benefit of literally sitting on the same board with representatives of the
experienced oil producer from the private sector. By implication, the
traditional dichotomy between public and private could be further blurred, such
that the easy labels of “socialism” and “capitalism” may become less and less
relevant or useful (except in the rhetoric of American presidential contests). Rosneft
itself is a case in point of privateness and
publicness coming together with a
shared vocabulary or at least financial aim. Before addressing this point, I
present the basics of the deal itself.
Robert Dudley, CEO of BP, talking with Vladimir Putin at the Kremlin. Source: Telegraph
