Gazprom to Raise its Own Private Army
to Protect Oil Installations

CARL MORTISHED / The Times (UK) 5jul2007

Gazprom will create its own private army after Russian lawmakers gave the gas utility and Transneft, the state oil pipeline monopoly, the power to create armed units to defend their installations.

A Bill passed yesterday by the Duma, the parliament’s lower house, would allow Gazprom and Transneft to recruit and arm their own security forces, giving them greater powers than private security firms.

The move provoked a storm of protest against the creation of private armies within Russia’s largest corporations. Gennadi Gudkov, a deputy in the Duma who had opposed the Bill, called it a “Pandora’s box . . . This law envisages the creation of corporate armies. If we pass this law, we will all become servants of Gazprom and Transneft.”

Russia’s move to arm Gazprom has emerged as NATO begins to forge links with multinational oil companies. The organisation has offered Royal Dutch Shell and BP seaborne rapid response forces to defend oil platforms and installations from hijackers and hostage-takers.

The Bill – which has to be ratified by the Federation Council, the parliament’s upper house, and by President Putin to become law – will enable Gazprom and Transneft to create their own security force, instead of hiring external security guards to protect their installations. It envisages a force armed with handguns and pump-action shotguns.

Its supporters said that the two utilities needed greater power to protect pipelines from terrorist attack. Gazprom controls 153,000 kilometres of gas pipeline, linking gasfields in remote parts of Siberia to urban areas and to Europe. Transneft’s pipelines have come under attack in the Caucasus from separatist groups.

Alexandr Gurov, a Duma deputy who drafted the Bill, said: “A couple of terrorist acts and an ensuing ecological catastrophe would be enough to immediately declare Russia an unreliable partner and supplier of energy.”

However, the signs that the Kremlin is creating a private military force within Russia’s most powerful company will arouse concern that Gazprom is rebuilding a power base that extends beyond its role as a gas utility. The Bill allows the security force to be deployed only to protect infrastructure, but Gazprom’s pipelines provide vital links to Europe across sensitive borders with Ukraine, Belarus and Poland.

NATO is beefing up its activity in the energy sphere, with a view to providing emergency assistance to oil companies in Africa, Asia and the Middle East, according to Jamie Shea, director of policy planning for the organisation.

Speaking at a recent Chatham House energy conference in London, he said that oil companies were keen to receive help with intelligence. Attacks against oil pipelines are endemic in Nigeria and concern is mounting about the vulnerability of oil and gas installations in the Gulf.

“In NATO we are looking very actively at using our maritime resources to see how we can link up with oil companies,” Mr Shea said.

The organisation is in talks with the Government of Qatar about security for the vast liquefied natural gas projects under way in the Gulf state.

source: 5jul2007

Gazprom, Transneft Allowed Armed Units

Reuters / Moscow Times 5jul2007

The State Duma on Wednesday gave two of the country's biggest energy monopolies the right to form armed units to patrol oil and gas pipelines, the country's economic lifeline.

A bill, backed by 341 deputies in the 450-seat Duma, gives state-controlled gas giant Gazprom and state oil pipeline monopoly Transneft the right to employ and arm their own security units.

Deputy Gennady Gudkov, of the pro-Kremlin A Just Russia party, opposed the bill, saying it opened the way for the creation of corporate armies in the country.

Gazprom is already described by some observers as a state within a state: It controls some of the country's biggest media outlets, has a watertight grip on gas exports and owns the country's third-largest bank.

But the bill's authors said it was needed to help the firms protect their infrastructure against militant attacks.

"A couple of terrorist acts and an ensuing environmental catastrophe would be enough to immediately declare Russia an unreliable partner and supplier of energy resources," said Alexander Gurov, a United Russia deputy who helped draft the bill and made his name in the Soviet Interior Ministry fighting organized crime in the 1980s.

Gazprom owns all trunk pipelines transporting natural gas across the country and exporting it abroad. Transneft controls all oil and oil product pipelines.

Russia supplies almost one-quarter of Europe's natural gas and is the world's second-biggest exporter of crude oil, after Saudi Arabia.

source: 5jul2007

Russian Parliament Is Allowing Gazprom to Form Armed Units

Wall Street Journal 5jul2007

Russia's parliament handed gas giant OAO Gazprom the right to form its own armed units, with a law one legislator said opened a "Pandora's box" that could lead to the creation of a private army. A law backed by 341 lawmakers in the 450-seat State Duma, the lower house of parliament, gave Gazprom and oil-pipeline monopoly OAO Transneft exemption from limits on wielding of arms by private businesses. The two state-controlled companies will for the first time be allowed to employ their own armed operatives instead of contracting an outside security firm. Gazprom has 430,000 employees, controls some of Russia's biggest media outlets, has a firm grip on gas exports, and owns the country's third-largest bank. The law's supporters said it was needed to improve protection of oil and gas pipelines from attacks by militants.

source: p.A4 5jul2007