Russia’s energy majors heading West

Dodik claimed that the refinery was being sold to Russian company Zarubezhneft, even though the formal owner of the refinery turned out to be a previously unknown firm called Neftgazinkor. And the money to be used for the purchase was sent from the account of the Russian commercial bank Vnesheconombank. This left the true owners of the refinery unknown, with suspicions that they are close to the leadership of Gazprom.

In 2007, Lukoil began to show serious interest in the Croatian market. The company tried to buy Tifon from retired General Ivan Cermak. Tifon was a significant retail chain with 36 modern petrol filling stations, some twenty new locations and a market share of 7%.

Such an acquisition would have allowed Lukoil to compete with INA in a very short time. But Hungary's MOL made a better offer and Lukoil was forced to delay its entry to the Croatian market. It did so in April of 2008 when it purchased a small Croatian firm called Europa Mil, with eight service stations and a river terminal in Vukovar.

Almost parallel to this acquisition, Lukoil purchased the Roksped chain of service stations in Montenegro for 26.5m euros. Few saw Lukoil's operations in the region as a threat, mostly because of the positive image it had as a privately owned company. That attitude changed only after companies under the direct control of the Russian leadership began operating in Serbia and BiH.

Gazprom intended to buy NIS from the state through a subsidiary company, Gazproneft.

The Russians paid 400m euros for NIS and agreed to invest a further 550m euros by 2012. The deal was signed by Serbian Prime Minister Vojislav Kostunica. Independent analysts said the company was sold for significantly less than it was worth and speculated that this was with the aim of securing Russian political support in the Serbian campaign against the independence of Kosovo.

In 2007, NIS saw profits of 125m euros and it paid 1.2 billion euros in taxes. Based on these figures, many analysts concluded that Serbia handed over control of its energy system to Russia at a very cheap price. The Russians gain a similar control in Hungary if they succeed in achieving key ownership in MOL.

So far, this hasn't happened. But it would undoubtedly be seen as a significant increase in Russian influence. Because some of the countries in the region are already EU members -- and considering that others will become members in the future -- it can be assumed that the Russians are establishing future political leverage within the EU via one of the most important issues of the 21st century: energy.