MOSCOW (Reuters) – Fund managers are keeping their cool in the face of Russian political risk as western oil majors come under pressure and state control of business grows.
Concern over Anglo-Dutch oil giant Royal Dutch Shell’s Sakhalin-2 energy deal was high on Britain’s diplomatic agenda this week when its Foreign Secretary Margaret Beckett challenged her Russian counterpart Sergei Lavrov in New York.
But investors enjoying double-digit returns from Russia’s oil-fuelled boom say they are not surprised by the risks to Sakhalin, Russia’s largest foreign investment, where Shell is building the world’s biggest plant to liquefy gas.
“We are seeing the Russification of the strategic energy assets. This is going to continue until it is finished,” said Martin Taylor, hedge fund manager at London’s Thames River capital with $8.5 billion (4.5 billion pounds) of assets under management.
