Nashe Vremya, Rostov-on-Don - August 12, 2005

Greed
The last spoonful of cream
Due to the increased tax burden on the fuel and energy industry it has become more profitable for oil producers “to cream off the situation than to think about the future,” Troika Dialog's chief economist Yevgeny Gavrilenkov told RBC TV program “The Sphere of Interests”. In other words, they are trying to put a thought in our minds, a thought, which is as simple as bupkis: we should not take too much from the oil kings, as everything will get even worse. Oil-producing companies will not have funds for development, for the future of the industry.

Poor, poor oligarchs, they have been diddled out of everything, though they once burned with enthusiasm to invest everything into production and to think about the future… Well, of course, US oil companies content themselves with 10 percent of revenues that the government leaves for them: they have enough funds for development and infrastructure; their blue collars do not complain and the owners can afford Rolls-Royces… This is how it works in the USA, but our oligarchs, who have been forced to share their profits only recently, will never be able to put up with such tiny incomes! That is why yields even three times as high as those in the States are humiliating and make them feel no less than beggars!

Gavrilenkov says it has become more profitable for oil producers “to cream off the situation” under the present conditions… And what were they doing yesterday? Were they drinking skimmed milk? Why did scientists raise the alarm several years ago that our oil exploration had died (later it sank in to the government as well)? This was how our billionaires, wallowing in excessive profits, “thought about the future”. They are doing the same now, but now they are too stingy to pay taxes: Help!!! They are depriving us of the last spoonful of cream! Gavrilenkov is at least cringing saying that…