Tyumen Appoints Vekselberg As New CEO

Tyumen Oil, Russia's third largest oil producer, has appointed Viktor Vekselberg as the new chief executive officer, shifting his predecessor Simon Kukes to oversee the company's international operations. The management board decided on last Thursday to promote the deputy CEO Vekselberg to run its Russian business, said Vladimir Bobylev, a company spokesman. Kukes retains the post as the company president. Tyumen in 1998 hired Kukes as CEO, tapping the Russian born US citizen and former Amoco executive when it was Russia's fifth largest oil producer and was fighting to buy more oil producing assets and borrow half a billion dollars from the US Export-Import Bank. Vekselberg is the general director of ZAO Renova, which controls half of Tyumen in a venture with the US company Access Industries Inc. “The balance of power in the company isn't really changing,” said Steven Dashevsky, an analyst at Aton brokerage. “Though Kukes has had a say, Tyumen's owners have had operational control. The company has grown, and they may have felt the need for more of a hands-on approach.”

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