At the beginning of this month, Transneft announced the purchase of Oman Oil's 7% share in the Caspian Pipeline Consortium. This deal worth an estimated 710 million USD, had been in the pipeline for nearly two years with neither parties able to arrive at a mutually acceptable figure. In October 2008, The President of Kalmykia, Kirsan Illyumzhinov , was drafted in by the Kremlin to break the impasse. Oil Intelligence understands that he then turned to his trusted advisor and business partner Shiv Shankaran Nair, a Malta based British businessman with interests in oil and gas, shipping and contracting. Nair made several trips to Oman, where he has close links with Alawi Zawawi, the son of the former Prime minister Quais Zawawi, and who also happens to be the nephew of Dr.Omar Zawawi, advisor to the Sultan. The results of these trips are not known, but suddenly on the 6th of November, Transneft announced that a deal had indeed been signed
At the beginning of this month, Transneft announced the purchase of Oman Oil's 7% share in the Caspian Pipeline Consortium. This deal worth an estimated 710 million USD, had been in the pipeline for nearly two years with neither parties able to arrive at a mutually acceptable figure. In October 2008, The President of Kalmykia, Kirsan Illyumzhinov , was drafted in by the Kremlin to break the impasse. Oil Intelligence understands that he then turned to his trusted advisor and business partner Shiv Shankaran Nair, a Malta based British businessman with interests in oil and gas, shipping and contracting. Nair made several trips to Oman, where he has close links with Alawi Zawawi, the son of the former Prime minister Quais Zawawi, and who also happens to be the nephew of Dr.Omar Zawawi, advisor to the Sultan. The results of these trips are not known, but suddenly on the 6th of November, Transneft announced that a deal had indeed been signed
