Different means of warfare were used, from groundless allegations of fraud, tax evasion, and group crime, to set-up court cases with fake testimonies. Mikhail Khodorkovsky lost that war, but Sibneft’s Roman Abramovich saw the writing on the wall and decided to sell his company.

Yukos and Sibneft were both founded in 1993. Pundits in Russia referred to Khodorkovsky and Abramovich as the “twins.” But their fates have sharply diverged: for Khodorkovsky, imprisonment in remote Siberia; for Abramovich, a lavish jet-setter lifestyle in London.

During their existence both Yukos and Sibneft strove to increase oil production, raise capitalization, and earn generous dividends for their shareholders. Both started employing western high-tech oil production technologies and brought in international service companies like Schlumberger and Halliburton. They recruited some of the best young talent and tapped internationally recognized experts to teach their employees. The result was a new generation of reservoir and geo-science engineers, oriented towards western oilfield practices and efficiency.

Perhaps due to Khodorkovsky’s alleged political ambitions, the state decided to eliminate him and the dangers he posed. The Yukos empire was destroyed. Abramovich, who was forced to sell Sibneft to Gazprom, managed to do so in relative style because of his good relations with the government.

However, his company did not really fare better. By the beginning of 2006, Sibneft’s top management had lost all power to their Gazprom counterparts and a new culture flooded the organization. Formerly efficient management decisions have been transformed into lengthy procrastination. Highly qualified engineers and mid-level management left Sibneft for TNK-BP or Shell. The new invaders converted the organization from an efficient private company into a second-rate outfit.

Sibneft, like Yukos, routinely increased oil production far above the allowed limit (20 percent in some years), a feat that would result in envy and admiration anywhere else in the world. This was to be expected for Sibneft, with its western-style management and advanced field-service technologies. But now that Gazprom controls Sibneft’s assets, look for the company’s production to decline.