Gazprom Neft reinstates the chief exec it replaced less than a week ago
RUSSIAN oil and gas giant Gazprom yesterday did a U-turn over its plans for Aim-listed Sibir Energy, re-appointing Stuard Detmer as chief executive of the firm just days after replacing him with a candidate from its own legal team.
Sibir said in a statement it had re-appointed Detmer at the request of the group’s oil arm Gazprom Neft.
Igor Tsibelman, the Gazprom Neft representative who was named chief executive on Thursday, was demoted to deputy “to ensure the seamless transition of the management”.
The move is understood to be a temporary one, with Tsibelman due to take the helm again within a matter of weeks. Detmer will then stand down to become a non-executive director as planned.
Gazprom Neft is in the process of sweeping up the stakes of Sibir’s smaller shareholders, giving it effective control of the company.
It struck the deal to acquire the shares after Sibir became embroiled in scandal over controversial property deals conducted in October last year with Chalva Tchigirinski, one of its major shareholders.