Rosneft Board Officially Names Khudainatov as CEO, Replacing Bogdanchikov

OAO Rosneft, Russia’s biggest state- run oil producer, named Eduard Khudainatov as chief executive officer a day after Russian President Dmitry Medvedev proposed that he should replace Sergei Bogdanchikov.

The company’s board officially appointed Khudainatov to the post effective tomorrow, Moscow-based Rosneft said in an e- mailed statement today. Medvedev yesterday proposed that Khudainatov, the company’s deputy chief executive, should be put forward for election to the top job.

Prior to joining Rosneft, Khudainatov, 49, had served as a general director at Severneftegazprom, an OAO Gazprom unit that holds a license to the Yuzhno-Russkoye gas field in Siberia. Khudainatov has also held “leading positions” in the Russian government, including the presidential executive office, Rosneft said in the statement.

“I’m confident that Eduard Khudainatov has the experience and insights to lead the management team as Rosneft enters its next stage of development,” Igor Sechin, Russia’s deputy prime minister and chairman of Rosneft, said in the statement.

Bogdanchikov, 53, had headed Rosneft since 1998, turning the company into Russia’s largest oil producer by buying Yukos Oil Co.’s biggest assets in government auctions to recover more than $30 billion in back taxes. Russian newspaper Vedomosti said Sept. 1 that Bogdanchikov may resign within days. The same day, Bogdanchikov said he is “very attached” to the company and has no plans to leave it.

Nikolai Manvelov, a Rosneft spokesman, wasn’t immediately available to comment today.

To contact the reporter on this story: Anastasia Ustinova in St. Petersburg at austinova@bloomberg.net

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