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116-553: Patarkatsishvili suddenly died intestate in February 2008, sparking one of the largest estate battles in legal history. In October 2018, the government of Georgia officially accused the former president of Georgia Mikheil Saakashvili of ordering Patarkatsishvili's assassination. Born in Tbilisi to a Jewish family , Patarkatsishvili became an active member of the Komsomol , the youth wing of

232-502: A Duma deputy, said that he would be obliged to vote against the president's legislative project, which was "directed toward changing the state's structure" and represented a "threat to Russia's territorial integrity and democracy." Things came to a head in August 2000 when Berezovsky used ORT to attack Putin for his handling of the sinking of the Kursk submarine , blaming the death of 118 sailors on

348-418: A joint-stock company . Gazprom began to distribute shares under the voucher method . (Each Russian citizen received vouchers to purchase shares of formerly state-owned companies). By 1994, 33% of Gazprom's shares had been bought by 747,000 members of the public, mostly in exchange for vouchers. Fifteen percent of the stock was allocated to Gazprom employees. The state retained 40% of the shares. That amount

464-411: A will . Their personal property could formerly be disposed of by a testament , hence the hallowed legal merism last will and testament . Common law sharply distinguished between real property and chattels . Real property for which no disposition had been made by will passed by the law of kinship and descent ; chattel property for which no disposition had been made by testament was escheat to

580-662: A $ 1.8bn action against another of his business associates, Vasily Anisimov . The family claimed that they had a part-entitlement to the 20% share formerly held by Anisimov in mining company Metalloinvest . The case was settled in March 2014 before it came to court. His wife was Inna Vasilievna Gudavadze ( Russian : Инна Васильевна Гудавадзе ; b. 1955, Tbilisi ) and they had two daughters Liana ( Russian : Лиана ; b. 1980) and Inna ( Russian : Инна ; b. 1983). Intestate Sections Contest Property disposition Common types Other types Governing doctrines Intestacy

696-524: A 3.8% increase from the 2011 figure which represented 18.4% of the world's reserves. In 2015, the reserves of crude oil were 1.355 billion tons and the reserves of gas condensate were 933.3 billion tons. 59.8 percent of Gazprom's natural gas reserves (Categories A+B+C1) were located in the Urals Federal District (decreasing), 20.5 percent in the Arctic shelf (increasing), and 8.3 percent in

812-633: A 41.4 GW capacity. The UGSS is the largest gas transmission system in the world. In 2008, the transportation system carried 714.3 billion cubic metres (25.23 trillion cubic feet) of gas. Gazprom has claimed the UGSS has reached its capacity. Major transmission projects include the Nord Stream pipelines as well as pipelines inside Russia. In 2021 Russia had two large liquefied natural gas (LNG) production plants, Yamal LNG and Sakhalin-2 LNG both of which Gazprom has an interest in. In March 2021,

928-646: A businessman, Patarkatsishvili reportedly agreed; however, when the Saakashvili side sent him the contract, there was a new clause, which required Patarkatsishvili to invest $ 2,000,000,000 in the "improvement" of the railroad property. He refused, but died shortly after. Novaya Gazeta's source is one of the lawyers from the legal side of this deal. Following Patarkatsishvili's death, several of his closest business associates made attempts to claim his business assets from his family members, who were entitled to his residual estate under Georgian law, as he had died without leaving

1044-657: A company that Berezovsky had an interest in. Patarkatsishvili and Berezovsky believed the arrest to be politically motivated and part of the Kremlin's attempt to put pressure on their businesses. Glushkov suffered from a hereditary blood disease and had to receive special medical treatment in hospital. Patarkatsishvili and Berezovsky began negotiations with the Government for his release agreeing to give up their media interests and for Berezovsky to end his political ambitions. However, in June 2001,

1160-481: A conversion of 26,4 m per million Btu it would correspond to a price of $ 285 per 1,000 cubic metres . At the same time, based on their respective contracts with Gazprom, German customers paid $ 250 per cubic metre (m ), Polish customers $ 290 per m , Ukraine customers $ 130 per m and Russian customers $ 49 per m . Since the start of the Russian invasion of Ukraine in February 2022 and as a result of falling export revenue,

1276-705: A domestic gas industry. In 1965, it centralized gas exploration , development, and distribution within the Ministry of Gas Industry. In the 1970s and 1980s, the Ministry of Gas Industry found large natural gas reserves in Siberia , the Ural region and the Volga Region . The Soviet Union became a major gas producer. In August 1989, under the leadership of the minister of Gas Industry of the Soviet Union (1985-1989) Viktor Chernomyrdin ,

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1392-472: A heart attack at an early age of 48. The businessman had no history of illness but was reported to have led an unhealthy lifestyle, smoking excessively and taking no exercise. According to Tim Bell, "he [Patarkatsishvili] always looked 10 years older than he was." However, theories of a possible assassination were considered seriously by some. "[A] number of compounds known to be used by the former KGB can induce heart failure , but leave virtually no trace. One

1508-593: A joint company Shtokman Development AG for development of the field. On 8 April 2013, in Amsterdam, Alexey Miller , chairman of the Gazprom management committee, and Jorma Ollila , chairman of the board of directors of Royal Dutch Shell , signed in the presence of Putin and Mark Rutte , prime minister of the Netherlands , a memorandum outlining the principles of cooperation within hydrocarbons exploration and development in

1624-496: A large anti-government rally held in downtown Tbilisi and pledged to further support it. He left Georgia for London shortly afterwards. After the demonstration turned violent, following police attacks, on November 7, 2007, Georgia's Chief Prosecutor's Office announced that he was suspected of conspiracy to overthrow the government. On November 11, he said he would run as Independent in the January 5, 2008 presidential elections under

1740-602: A large development on Fisher Island in Florida, by claiming to be in possession of Patarkatsishvili's last will and testament that appointed Kay as executor of the estate. These documents were later declared to be forgeries in the UK High Court. Kay's case was comprehensively dismissed by Mr Justice Dudley in the Supreme Court of Gibraltar in February 2010. Justice Dudley described Kay's case as "wholly unconvincing" adding that he

1856-623: A monastery. In return for these paternal gifts, the then president Eduard Shevardnadze agreed to allow him the state's protection from charges against him in Russia. In December 2001, he founded Imedi Media Holding , the first independent broadcasting station in Georgia . During his early career, Patarkatsishvili had shown little interest in politics. However, when the Rose Revolution began in 2003 and Patarkatsishvili could see that Eduard Shevardnadze

1972-470: A north fork to Hungary. On 18 December 2007, Frank-Walter Steinmeier (who was then Foreign Minister of Germany) and Dmitry Medvedev signed an agreement on behalf of BASF to exploit another gas field. At the time, German demand was 40% covered by Russian supply. Some German academics warned that Germany had become too dependent of Russia but Steinmeier, citing the new Ostpolitik , disregarded them. On 11 February 2008 Kuprianov threatened Ukraine with

2088-489: A senior member of President Boris Yeltsin 's Kremlin administration. Berezovsky had also gotten Putin appointed as Russian FSB director. However, Berezovsky quickly fell out with the new president. On May 31, Berezovsky sharply attacked the constitutional reform proposed by Putin, which would give the Kremlin the right to dismiss elected governors. In an open letter to Putin published in Kommersant Berezovsky, then

2204-524: A source close to the late businessman said on the day of his death that Patarkatsishvili feared the Georgian authorities were plotting to kill him. Associated Press reported that on December 26, 2007, Patarkatsishvili said that he had obtained a tape recording of an official in his homeland's Interior Ministry asking a Chechen warlord to murder the tycoon in London. "I believe they want to kill me," he said. He said

2320-550: A state-owned company. Some analysts said the amount paid by Rosneftegaz for the stock was too low. The sale was completed by 25 December 2005. With the purchased stock and the thirty-eight percent share held by the State Property Committee, the Government of Russia gained control of Gazprom. The Government of Russia revoked the Gazprom twenty percent foreign ownership rule and the company became open to foreign investment. In September 2005, Gazprom bought 72.633 percent of

2436-635: A stoppage of flow; in January 2009 the threat was executed, beginning the 2009 Russia–Ukraine gas dispute . BASF's Jürgen Hambrecht was concerned about the reliability of his firm's supply but Miller assuaged his worries in a phone call, and the Europeans did nothing to change course for more than a decade. On 1 December 2014, during a visit to Turkey , Putin said the SouthStream project would not proceed and 63 billion cubic metres per year (bcm/y) of gas would be shipped to Turkey instead of Bulgaria . Bulgaria

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2552-564: A subsidiary of BP plc , agreed to sell its stake in Kovykta field in Siberia to Gazprom after the Government of Russia questioned BP's right to export gas from Russia. On 1 August 2007, Gazprom's Sergey Kuprianov threatened Belarus with stoppage of their gas flow if the latter failed to pay off their debts and if so they would experience a 300% price increase. Two days later he saw significant progress towards payment and he expected to be paid by

2668-423: A trading loss and the need to increase the price in the domestic market by 34% over 3 years. Gazprom has also opened itself up to compensation claims for failure to supply gas under long term contracts. In 2011, Gazprom produced 513.17 billion cubic metres (18.122 trillion cubic feet) of natural gas, which was 17 percent of the worldwide production and 83 percent of Russian production. Of this amount,

2784-630: A valid will. Shortly after Patarkatsishvili died, Joseph Kay, the stepson of his aunt and someone who had assisted him with his business affairs, along with the American lawyer, Emmanuel Zeltser, attempted to take control of Imedi , Mtatsminda Park and the Rustavi Metallurgical Plant in Georgia, as well as other assets belonging to Inna Gudavadze and the Patarkatsishvili family, including

2900-449: Is sodium fluoroacetate , a fine white powder derived from pesticide ." The British police checked Patarkatsishvili's Surrey mansion for radioactive elements but reportedly found nothing suspicious. He is buried in the courtyard of his residence Arkadia in Tbilisi , which is located in the former Wedding Palace . London Lite was the first newspaper to inform the British public of

3016-662: Is Russia's honorary consul in Verona, a former Italian communist and a close associate of both Alexey Anatolievich Matveev ( Russian : Алексей Анатольевич Матвеев ; born 21 December 1963) and Vladimir Putin, Italy's gas supplied by Russia had greatly increased from 25 percent in 2004 to 70 percent. In May 2006, the European Union received about 25 percent of its gas supply from Gazprom. In 2006, Gazprom entered several long term gas contracts with European companies. The contract prices were mainly linked to oil prices. In 2014, Europe

3132-470: Is also a large oil producer through its subsidiary Gazprom Neft , producing about 41 million tons of oil with reserves amounting to 2 billion tons. The company also has subsidiaries in industrial sectors, including finance , media and aviation , and majority stakes in other companies. Gazprom was created in 1989, when the Soviet Ministry of Gas Industry was converted to a corporation , becoming

3248-629: Is legally assigned) to the Crown (via the Bona vacantia division of the Treasury Solicitor ) or to the Duchy of Cornwall or Duchy of Lancaster when the deceased was a resident of either. In limited cases a discretionary distribution might be made by one of these bodies to persons who would otherwise be without entitlement under strict application of the rules of inheritance. These rules have been supplemented by

3364-583: Is majority-owned by the Russian government , via the Federal Agency for State Property Management and Rosneftegaz , while the remaining shares are traded publicly. Gazprom, listed on the Moscow Exchange, had a market capitalization of RUB3.94T (US$ 44.96 billion) in March 2000, which increased to US$ 80.56 billion by September 2019. In 1943, during World War II , the government of the Soviet Union developed

3480-420: Is that all possible (blood) relatives can qualify for benefit (i.e. they are not limited to grandparents or their descendants). Once a class is 'exhausted', succession continues to the next line of ascendants, followed by siblings, and so on. In a complete absence of relatives of the whole or half-blood, the estate passes to the Crown (as ultimus haeres ). The Crown has a discretion to benefit people unrelated to

3596-405: Is the condition of the estate of a person who dies without a legally valid will , resulting in the distribution of their estate under statutory intestacy laws rather than by their expressed wishes. Alternatively this may also apply where a will or declaration has been made, but only applies to part of the estate; the remaining estate forms the "intestate estate". Intestacy law, also referred to as

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3712-600: Is the plain truth." As Patarkatsishvili lost favour with Saakashvili's government in 2007, numerous allegations of corruption were made against him. He was impeached as president of the Georgian National Olympic Committee, and also quit as a president of the Georgian Business Federation. Tbilisi-based Rustavi 2 TV, a channel controlled by Saakashvili's government, linked his name with several notorious murders in Russia and Georgia, including

3828-812: The Arctic shelf and a section of the deep-water shelf. In 2008, Gazprom carried out 284.9 kilometres (177.0 mi) of explorative well drilling; 124,000 kilometres (77,000 mi) of 2D seismic and 6,600 square kilometres (2,500 sq mi) of 3D seismic survey. As a result, gas reserves grew by 583.4 billion cubic metres (20.60 trillion cubic feet), and crude oil and gas condensate reserves grew by 61 million tons. Gazprom carries out prospecting and exploration in foreign countries such as India , Pakistan , Algeria , Venezuela , Vietnam , Libya , Kazakhstan , Uzbekistan , Kyrgyzstan and Tajikistan . Gazprom's Unified Gas Supply System (UGSS) includes 158,200 kilometres (98,300 mi) of gas trunklines and branches and 218 compressor stations with

3944-544: The Baltic Sea for sea transportation westward. It would process ethane -containing natural gas with a capacity of 13 million tons of LNG per year. In 2024, Gazprom faced a significant shortage of LNG tankers, leading the company to use the Marshal Vasilevskiy floating storage and regasification unit (FSRU) for exporting LNG from its Portovaya facility. This shortage occurred because Gazprom's regular tankers, such as

4060-717: The Black Sea . In 1997, the Blue Stream Pipeline agreement between Turkey and Russia was signed. In 2000, the first joint was welded. The pipeline has transported 16 billion cubic meters each year. Exploration of the Yamal peninsula has found reserves of over 10 trillion cubic metres of natural gas and over 500 million tons of oil and gas condensate. About 60 percent of these reserves are located in Bovanenkovo , Kharasavey and Novoportovo. The natural gas production capacity of

4176-573: The China National Petroleum Corporation made a contract worth $ 400 billion over thirty years. The contract was for Gazprom to deliver 38 billion cubic meters of natural gas per year to China beginning in 2018. In August 2014, construction began with pipes for the Power of Siberia pipeline delivered to Lensk, Yakutia. Russia will start supplying natural gas to China through the Power of Siberia pipeline on 20 December 2019 as part of

4292-524: The Nord Stream 2 contracts were signed, and by July 2021 the pipeline was commissioned. Following the Russian invasion of Ukraine in February 2022, the threat by Russia of reducing the supply of gas to Europe risked the Gazprom export market. When it was implemented, exports by Gazprom fell from the 185Bcm achieved in 2021 to 100Bcm in 2022 and fell again in 2023. The revenue of Gazprom, whilst initially supported by high prices collapsed in 2023 resulting in

4408-486: The President of Georgia , of planning Patarkatsishvili's assassination. Arrested on corruption charges, however, Okruashvili retracted his accusations against the president, winning release on bail of 10 million Georgian lari (about US$ 6,250,000). He also said that his earlier accusations levelled against Saakashvili were not true and were aimed at gaining political dividends for himself and Patarkatsishvili and at discrediting

4524-599: The Russia-Ukraine gas dispute , Gazprom ceased the supply of gas to the Ukrainian market. Gazprom called on the government of Ukraine to increase its payment for natural gas in line with increases in global fuel prices. During the night of 3 January 2006, and early morning of 4 January 2006, Naftogas of Ukraine and Gazprom negotiated a deal that temporarily resolved the long-standing gas price conflict between Russia and Ukraine. On 3 April 2006, Gazprom announced it would triple

4640-736: The Russian President , appointed Viktor Chernomyrdin , Gazprom's Chairman, his Prime Minister , the company's political influence increased. Rem Viakhirev took the chairmanship of Gazprom's Board of Directors and Managing Committee. Following the Decree of the President of the Russian Federation of 5 November 1992, and the Resolution of the Government of Russia of 17 February 1993, Gazprom became

4756-517: The Sibneft oil company. Sibneft was the youngest oil holding company in Russia at the time having been created hastily in early 1995 out of Rosneft . An unknown entity, Oil Finance Corporation (NFK), that had been created out of Menatep, a holding company started by Mikhail Khodorkovsky , won the auction. Berezovsky had an interest in the Menatep Group and for this reason, there was some speculation that

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4872-604: The Southern Federal District and North Caucasus Federal District . Gazprom has invested about 480 billion rubles ($ 20 billion) in new major projects in order to maintain supply. Nearly 37 percent of Gazprom's reserves are located in the Yamal Peninsula and in the Barents Sea . One of Gazprom's major projects is the Blue Stream Pipeline. The Blue Stream Pipeline delivers natural gas to Turkey via

4988-707: The Yamburg subsidiary produced 41 percent, Urengoy 23.6 percent, Nadym 10.9 percent, Noyabrsk 9.3 percent and others 15.2 percent. In addition, the company produced 32.28 million tons of oil and 12.07 million tons of gas condensate. The majority of Gazprom's fields are located in the Nadym-Pur-Taz region (near the Gulf of Ob ) in Yamalo-Nenets Autonomous Okrug in Western Siberia . Historically,

5104-465: The law of descent and distribution , which vary by jurisdiction, refers to the body of law ( statutory and case law ), establish a hierarchy for inheritance, typically prioritizing close relatives such as spouses, children, and then extended family members and determines who is entitled to the property from the estate under the rules of inheritance . Intestacy has a limited application in those jurisdictions that follow civil law or Roman law because

5220-505: The Baltic states. Gazprom received about 60 percent of its revenue from its sales to European customers. In 2008, the average gas price paid by Russian industrial customers was $ 71/mcm, while households paid $ 54/mcm. Since 2000, Natural gas prices have fluctuated. In late 2007, the price of natural gas at the New York NYMEX was $ 7.53 per million British thermal units ($ 25.7/ MWh ). At

5336-462: The Bovanenkovo field was estimated to be 115 billion cubic metres per annum (4.1 trillion cubic feet per annum), with potential to increase to 140 billion cubic metres per annum (4.9 trillion cubic feet per annum). The Shtokman field is one of the world's largest natural gas fields. It is located in the central part of the Barents Sea , 650 kilometres (400 mi) northeast of

5452-534: The Chinese to build the remaining pipeline. In January 2023, as a result of the sanctions imposed on Russia (as a result of the invasion of Ukraine in 2022), Gazprom announced its exports of gas fell 45% from 185Bcm to 101Bcm, mainly due to the loss of the European market. During 2023 exports fell again, with Europe purchasing just 28Bcm, a level not seen since the 1970's. On 1 January 2006, at 10:00 (Moscow time), during

5568-454: The City he left for Down Street, Mayfair , to visit Berezovsky's office, and at 7.00 pm was returned to Leatherhead with his Maybach . Shortly after dining, Patarkatsishvili told his family he felt unwell and went upstairs to his bedroom where he was found unconscious after a heart attack . Preliminary reports indicated a heart attack as the cause of death. According to the first post-mortem tests,

5684-453: The Crown , or given to the Church for charitable purposes. This law became obsolete as England moved from being a feudal to a mercantile society, and chattels more valuable than land were being accumulated by townspeople. Where a person dies without leaving a will, the rules of succession of the person's place of habitual residence or of their domicile often apply, but it is also common for

5800-940: The Gazprom Neft shares for $ 13.1 billion. Gazprom's ability to supply natural gas to domestic market and for reexport has relied to a large extent on imports from Central Asia . In 2007, Gazprom imported a total of 60.7 billion cubic metres (2.14 trillion cubic feet) from Central Asia: 42.6 billion cubic metres (1.50 trillion cubic feet) from Turkmenistan , 8.5 billion cubic metres (300 billion cubic feet) from Kazakhstan , and 9.6 billion cubic metres (340 billion cubic feet) from Uzbekistan . In particular, Gazprom purchased seventy-five percent of Turkmenistan gas exports in order to supply gas to Ukraine . In 2008, Gazprom paid $ 130/mcm to $ 180/mcm for gas from Central Asia. In 2015, Gazprom's proved and probable reserves of natural gas were 23.705 trillion cubic metres (837.1 trillion cubic feet),

5916-521: The Georgian oligarch's death on the evening of 13 February 2008. In the news of 14 February 2008, Patarkatsishvili's death was covered in The Guardian , The Times , Financial Times , The Daily Telegraph , The Independent , etc. Most newspapers discussed Patarkatsishvili's business history, including his close ties with Boris Berezovsky, Roman Abramovich , Alexander Litvinenko , Mikheil Saakashvili and Vladimir Putin . According to Reuters ,

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6032-524: The Government of Russia received little in dividends . Gazprom managers and board members, such as Chernomyrdin and the Gazprom Chief Executive Officer , Rem Viakhirev , engaged in asset-stripping . Gazprom assets were shared amongst their relatives. Itera , a gas trading company also received Gazprom assets. In March 1998, for reasons unrelated to his activities at Gazprom, Chernomyrdin was fired by Yeltsin. On 30 June 1998, Chernomyrdin

6148-574: The Kremlin's reluctance to accept foreign help. This began to put pressure also on to Patarkatsishvili, whose association with Berezovsky was well known and was at the time, controlling the ORT station. In December 2000, Nikolay Glushkov a co-founder of AvtoVAZ and a close associate of Patarkatsishvili and Berezovsky was arrested as part of the Russian Prosecutor General's investigation in Aeroflot ,

6264-607: The Ministry of Gas Industry was renamed the State Gas Concern Gazprom , and became the Soviet Union's first state-run corporate enterprise. In late 1991, when the Soviet Union dissolved , gas industry assets were transferred to newly established national companies, such as Naftogaz and Turkmengaz . Gazprom kept assets located in Russia and secured a monopoly in the gas sector. In December 1992, when Boris Yeltsin ,

6380-410: The President of Georgia. On November 6, Okruashvili, said on Patarkatsishvili's Imedi TV — by then managed by Fox TV 's parent News Corporation — that he had been forced into retracting his accusations against Saakashvili by pressure that he endured in prison. Down the line from Munich, he said: "All of those accusations, all of those facts that I brought against Saakashvili, everything I said about him

6496-529: The Pskov, were involved in extended voyages to Asia, avoiding the Suez Canal and Red Sea due to security threats from Houthi attacks . In 2006, Gazprom sold 316 billion cubic metres (11.2 trillion cubic feet) of gas to domestic customers; 162 billion cubic metres (5.7 trillion cubic feet) to the rest of Europe; and 101 billion cubic metres (3.6 trillion cubic feet) to CIS countries and

6612-566: The Russian Prosecutor General's Office charged Patarkatsishvili with organizing an attempted escape from prison of Glushkov and issued an arrest warrant for him through Interpol. Believing that he would not be given a fair trial, Patarkatsishvili refused to come in for questioning and, on July 4, 2001, he gave an interview to the Kommersant newspaper setting out his version of events in an attempt to clear his name. To avoid prosecution in Russia, Patarkatsishvili moved to Tbilisi where he had been granted political asylum . Further charges relating to

6728-428: The Russian Government authorised a long-term programme to develop and expand the liquefied natural gas industry in Russia with nine more LNG plants, to address the growing global LNG market. In August 2021 Russia's first LNG bunkering vessel, Dmitry Mendeleev , was completed for Gazprom. In October 2021, Gazprom and RusGazDobycha announced they would build a new plant, Baltic LNG , at Ust-Luga , with access to

6844-433: The Soviet Communist Party during the 1980s. He eventually became Komsomol leader at Maudi, a large textile operation. In 1984, Patarkatsishvili became Deputy Director General of Gruzavtovazprom, a company that purchased and delivered cars and spare parts from AvtoVAZ , which was at the time, the largest car manufacturer in the Soviet Union. It was during trips made to the AvtoVAZ plant that he first met Boris Berezovsky who

6960-472: The Soviet Union was collapsing and there was a great deal of political uncertainty in the region. Patarkatsishvili, along with Berezvosky and other successful businessmen were supportive of Boris Yeltsin as he had liberalised trade with foreign countries, allowing their businesses to grow, however the wider economy was performing badly and there was growing support for Nikolai Ryzhkov 's reformed communist party. By 1994, Berezovsky had secured control of ORT ,

7076-509: The Tbilisi city football team, Dinamo Tbilisi , the Kulevi oil terminal and financed a new shopping centre in the capital and a holiday resort on the Black Sea . He also became the head of the federation of Georgian businessmen and head of the Georgian National Olympic Committee , subsidized social programs and cultural activities, and on two occasions paid debts for the gas and electricity consumed by Tbilisi residents. He funded several charity projects including schools, amusement parks — even

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7192-450: The assassination of Vlad Listyev . A particular flash point with Saakashvili's government was Imedi's reporting of the 2006 murder of Sandro Girgvliani . Imedi produced evidence, some of it from CCT TV security cameras at the Patarkatsishvili family home which overlooked the main highway in Tbilisi, that Girgviliani's murderers were officers of the interior ministry's elite security division and were closely connected to Vano Merabishvili ,

7308-511: The auction had been fixed. It later emerged that the company had been sold for a fraction of the market value. After Patarkatsishvili died, in 2012 the Sibneft privatisation was to become the subject of a high court legal battle between Chelsea football club owner Roman Abramovich and Berezovsky. According to The Times , Abramovich submitted a 53-page court defence that accused Berezovsky and Patarkatsishvili of demanding huge sums for helping him to rise from obscurity. Patarkatsishvili emerged as

7424-403: The case as "suspicious" and launched an official investigation. The businessman spent his last day in the City of London office of international law firm Debevoise and Plimpton , meeting his business partner Boris Berezovsky , his spokesperson Tim Bell and his lawyers Lord Goldsmith KC and Richard Gibbon, as well as fellow exiles, the Russians Nikolai Glushkov and Yuli Dubov From

7540-500: The city of Murmansk and 1,000 kilometres (620 mi) west of the Yamal Peninsula. The field is estimated to contain up to 3.7 trillion cubic metres (130 trillion cubic feet) of gas. Potential production is 71 billion cubic metres per annum (2.5 trillion cubic feet per annum) in the initial phases, with a potential increase to 95 billion cubic metres per annum (3.4 trillion cubic feet per annum). Gazprom, TotalEnergies (France) and Statoil (Norway) created

7656-414: The common law, and has been essentially codified. The state of Washington also has codified its intestacy law. New York has perhaps the most complicated law of descent of distribution. Maryland's intestacy laws specify not only the distribution, but also the order of the distribution among family members. Florida's intestacy statute permits the heirs of a deceased spouse of the decedent to inherit, if

7772-406: The company. In 1992 with support from his friend Otari Kvantriashvili , Patarkatsishvili and his family moved to the Moscow region , first to Lyubertsy in 1993 and then in 1994 to Moscow , where he quickly became part of Berezovsky's increasingly influential political circle. LogoVaz had by this time become an extremely successful company and had made Patarkatsishvili a wealthy man. At the time,

7888-409: The concept of a will is itself less important; the doctrine of forced heirship automatically gives a deceased person's next-of-kin title to a large part (forced estate) of the estate's property by operation of law , beyond the power of the deceased person to defeat or exceed by testamentary gift. A forced share (or legitime ) can often only be decreased on account of some very specific misconduct by

8004-403: The contract, Russia was to supply 38 billion cubic meters of gas annually over 30 years at a cost of $ 350 per thousand cubic meters beginning in 2018. In 2013, the average price of Gazprom's gas in Europe was about $ 380 per thousand cubic meters. China offered a loan of about $ 50bn to finance development of the gas fields and the construction of the pipeline by Russia up to the Chinese border, with

8120-466: The death of Patarkatsishvili appeared to have been from natural cardiac-related causes. According to the pathologist Ashley Fegan-Earl, he could identify a "severity that could have resulted in a sudden and unexplained collapse and death at any time." He also concluded that chest pain that Patarkatsishvili had had and a sudden collapse "were consistent with death due to coronary heart diseases." Patarkatsishvili's father, Shalva Patarkatsishvili, also died of

8236-432: The decedent has no other heirs. Gazprom PJSC Gazprom (Russian: Газпром , IPA: [ɡɐsˈprom] ) is a Russian majority state-owned multinational energy corporation headquartered in the Lakhta Center in Saint Petersburg. The Gazprom name is a contraction of the Russian words gazovaya promyshlennost ( газовая промышленность , gas industry). In January 2022, Gazprom displaced Sberbank from

8352-671: The discretionary power of the court contained in the Inheritance (Provision for Family and Dependants) Act 1975 so that fair provision can be made for a dependent spouse or other relative where the strict divisions set down in the intestacy rules would produce an unfair result, for example by providing additional support for a dependent minor or disabled child vis-a-vis an adult child who has a career and no longer depends on their parent. The law on intestacy in Scotland broadly follows that of England and Wales with some variations. A notable difference

8468-448: The domestic market will see price rises of 34% by July 2025. Gazprom delivered gas to 25 European countries. Its main export arm is Gazprom Export LLC, founded in 1973 and before 1 November 2006 known as Gazexport, which has a monopoly on gas exports to countries outside of the former Soviet Union. The majority of Russian gas in Europe is sold on 25-year contracts. In late 2004, Gazprom

8584-637: The election. He also confirmed that he offered Kodua "a huge amount of money" in exchange for defecting from the authorities allegedly to avert a possible use of force by the government against the planned January rallies. On December 28, 2007, Patarkatsishvili announced that he would withdraw his bid for presidency, but would nominally remain a candidate until January 4, 2008. On January 3, 2008, he reversed himself, however, and decided to run in presidential elections. In response, his top campaign official Giorgi Zhvania (brother of late Prime Minister Zurab Zhvania ) resigned, declaring that Patarkatsishvili did not have

8700-507: The estate: typically the administrator is chosen by the court having jurisdiction over the decedent's property, and is frequently (but not always) a person nominated by a majority of the decedent's heirs. Federal law controls intestacy of Native Americans . Many states have adopted all or part of the Uniform Probate Code, but often with local variations, In Ohio , the law of intestate succession has been modified significantly from

8816-475: The families of sailors who died during the Kursk submarine disaster and additional criticism of Putin's handling of the Second Chechen War . Gusinsky then fled Russia which Gazprom taking over NTV. In June 2005, Gazprombank , Gazpromivest Holding, Gazfond and Gazprom Finance B. V., subsidiaries of Gazprom, sold a 10.7399% share of their stock for $ 7 billion to Rosneftegaz  [ ru ] ,

8932-405: The first place in the list of the largest company in Russia by market capitalization. In 2022, the company's revenue amounted to 8 trillion rubles. Gazprom is vertically integrated and is active in every area of the gas industry, including exploration and production , refining , transport , distribution and marketing , and power generation . In 2018, Gazprom produced twelve percent of

9048-479: The first state-run corporate enterprise in the Soviet Union . After the Soviet Union's dissolution , Gazprom was privatized, retaining its Russia-based assets. At that time, Gazprom evaded taxes and state regulations and engaged in asset stripping . The company later returned to government control in the early 2000s, and since then, the company has been involved in the Russian government's diplomatic efforts, setting of gas prices, and access to pipelines. The company

9164-454: The forced heir . In matters of cross-border inheritance, the "laws of succession" is the commonplace term covering testate and intestate estates in common law jurisdictions together with forced heirship rules typically applying in civil law and Sharia law jurisdictions. After the Statute of Wills 1540, Englishmen (and unmarried or widowed women) could dispose of their lands and real property by

9280-433: The global output of natural gas, producing 497.6 billion cubic meters of natural and associated gas and 15.9 million tonnes of gas condensate . Gazprom then exports the gas through pipelines that the company builds and owns across Russia and abroad, such as Nord Stream 1 and TurkStream . In the same year, Gazprom has proven reserves of 35.1 trillion cubic meters of gas and 1.6 billion tons of gas condensate. Gazprom

9396-563: The head of his pre-election campaign Valeri Gelbakhiani. According to the government, Patarkatsishvili was trying to bribe Kodua to take part in what the Georgian officials described as an attempted coup d'état on January 6, 2008, the next of the scheduled presidential elections. The plan included to stage a mass manifestation against the government and to "neutralize" the Interior Minister Vano Merabishvili . Later independent journalist Vakhtang Komakidze produced what he said

9512-739: The hunt for his successor. He did this in order to counter the political aspirations of the Prime Minister Yevgeny Primakov , who was seen as more of a statist. As Berezovsky lost favour with the Kremlin, investigations began into his business affairs which Berezovsky claimed to be politically motivated. This eventually led to an arrest warrant for Berezovsky being issued in April 1999 by the Prosecutor General, Yury Skuratov . Although Patarkatsishvili had sought to distance himself from Berezovsky's political dealings his proximity to Berezovsky

9628-592: The interior minister and widely seen as Saakashvili's closest political ally. The revelations sparked widespread anger as Merabishvili's use of armed officers to crush corruption had already led to the deaths of innocent people and it was now perceived by many that the violence was being used to settle entirely personal grievances which could not be justified in any policy terms. On October 29, 2007, Patarkatsishvili publicly announced his plans to finance ten opposition parties' campaign aimed at holding early parliamentary elections in April 2008. On November 2, 2007, he addressed

9744-538: The intestate, e.g. those with moral claims on the estate. In Canada the laws vary from province to province. As in England, most jurisdictions apply rules of intestate succession to determine next of kin who become legal heirs to the estate. Also, as in England, if no identifiable heirs are discovered, the property may escheat to the government. In the United States intestacy laws vary from state to state. Each of

9860-460: The judgement of Gloster J in Berezovsky v Abramovich case in 2012 that gave a damning report of Berezovsky's character, Berezovsky quickly settled his case against the Patarkatsishvili family. The details of the settlement however remained confidential. In 2013, Inna Gudavadze, her two daughters, Iya Patarkatsishvili and Liana Zhmotova, and Patarkatsishvili's mother Natela Patarkatsishvili brought

9976-457: The jurisdiction where the property is located to govern its disposal, regardless of the decedent's residence or domicile. In certain jurisdictions such as France , Switzerland , the U.S. state of Louisiana , and much of the Islamic world , entitlements arise whether or not there was a will. These are known as forced heirship rights and are not typically found in common law jurisdictions, where

10092-476: The key intermediary, passing messages between Abramovich and Berezovsky. Patarkatsishvili was offered $ 500 million by Roman Abramovich, the defence papers that were submitted admit, for protecting Roman in Russia's aluminium wars. Following his success at ORT, in April 2001, Patarkatsishvili was appointed General Director of Russia's TV6 channel, which, like ORT , was partly owned by Berezovsky. Under his control, TV6 became notorious for its anti-Kremlin line. In

10208-414: The largest TV station in Russia at the time, and he installed Patarkatsishvili as First Deputy General Director. Patarkatsishvili and Berezovsky with support from Mikhail Lesin then used the station's influence to assist Boris Yeltsin to victory in the 1996 presidential election. From 1994 until mid-2000, Patarkatsishvili was a key figure at ORT. In 1997, he was selected to oversee the privatization of

10324-488: The late 1990s, Berezovsky and Patarkatsishvili also purchased Kommersant the one of Russia's most influential political newspapers. In 2006, Berezovsky sold his controlling stake to Patarkatsishvili, increasing Patarkatsishvili's holding to 100%. Patarkatsishvili then organised the sale of Kommersant in August 2006 to senior Gazprom executive Alisher Usmanov . By mid 1999, Boris Yeltsin began losing his grip on power and Boris Berezovsky began to play an important role in

10440-634: The line of inheritance goes back up the family tree to the parents, the siblings, the siblings' descendants, the grandparents, the parents' siblings, and the parents' siblings' descendants, and usually so on further to the more remote degrees of kinship. The operation of these laws varies from one jurisdiction to another. The rules of succession are the Intestacy Rules set out in the Administration of Estates Act 1925 ( 15 & 16 Geo. 5 . c. 23) and associated legislation. For deaths after 1 October 2014,

10556-462: The misappropriation of AvtoVaz were added in October 2002. Upon his return, Patarkatsishvili began investing much of the wealth that he had accumulated in Russia into his native country. He had become personally wealthier than the entire state budget and so was able to invest in business ventures and charitable projects in a scale that had been previously unimaginable to the impoverished country. He bought

10672-410: The next week. On 23 June 2007, the governments of Russia and Italy signed a memorandum of understanding towards a joint venture between Gazprom and Eni SpA to construct a 558-mile (900 km) gas pipeline to carry 1.05 trillion cubic feet (30 km ) gas per year from Russia to Europe. This South Stream pipeline would extend under the Black Sea to Bulgaria with a south fork to Italy and

10788-744: The oil company Sibneft for $ 13.01 billion. Sibneft was renamed Gazprom Neft . The purchase was aided by a $ 12 billion loan. Gazprom became Russia's largest company. On the day of the deal the company worth was valued at £ 69.7 billion (US$ 123.2 billion). In July 2006, On Gas Export was enacted with nearly unanimous vote from the State Duma . This law gave Gazprom the exclusive right to export natural gas from Russia. In December 2006, Gazprom signed an agreement with Royal Dutch Shell , Mitsui and Mitsubishi , to take over fifty percent plus one share of Sakhalin Energy . In June 2007, TNK-BP ,

10904-512: The power to vote out Viakhirev. Chernomyrdin and Viakhirev were replaced by Dmitry Medvedev and Alexei Miller . They were Putin's prior employees in Saint Petersburg . Putin's actions were aided by the shareholder activism of Hermitage Capital Management Chief Executive Officer William Browder , and the former Russian Finance Minister Boris Fyodorov . Miller and Medvedev were to stop asset stripping at Gazprom and to recover losses. Itera

11020-578: The price of natural gas to Belarus after 31 December 2006. In December 2006, Gazprom threatened to cease supply of gas to Belarus at 10 am Moscow time on 1 January 2007, unless Belarus increased payments from $ 47 to $ 200 per 1,000 cubic metres or to cede control over its distribution network. Some analysts suggested Moscow was penalising Alexander Lukashenko , the President of Belarus, for not delivering on pledges of closer integration with Russia , while others noted that other countries like Armenia were paying as much for their gas as Belarus would with

11136-423: The rules of succession without a will (intestate succession) play a back-up role where an individual has not (or has not fully) exercised their right to dispose of property in a will. In most contemporary common-law jurisdictions , the law of intestacy is patterned after the common law of descent. Property goes first or in major part to a spouse, then to children and their descendants; if there are no descendants,

11252-432: The rules where someone dies intestate leaving a spouse or civil partner are as follows: Where there is no spouse or civil partner, the assets pass in the following order of priority, such that no-one is entitled in any lower category if there is a living person entitled in a higher one: In the above "the statutory trusts" mean: Where no beneficiaries on the above list exist, the person's estate generally escheats (i.e.

11368-555: The separate states uses its own intestacy laws to determine the ownership of residents' intestate property. Attempts in the United States to make probate and intestate succession uniform from state to state, through efforts such as the Uniform Probate Code , have been met with limited success. The distribution of the property of an intestate decedent is the responsibility of the administrator (or personal representative ) of

11484-454: The slogan "Georgia without Saakashvili is Georgia without Terror." Leaders of the major opposition parties distanced themselves from Patarkatsishvili, who had to run as an independent presidential candidate. On December 24 and 25, 2007, the prosecutor-general's office of Georgia released a series of audio and video recordings of the two separate meetings of the high-ranking Georgian Interior Ministry official Erekle Kodua with Patarkatsishvili and

11600-435: The tape had been given to police. Novaya Gazeta reported the following information. Patarkatsishvili, living in London, was approached by members of the Saakashvili government demanding that he sell his controlling share in the dissident Imedi TV network. Initially, Patarkatsishvili refused, but was then offered an unprecedented deal: exchanging ownership of Imedi for ownership of the entire Georgian railroad system. Being

11716-572: The three largest fields are Medvezhe, Urengoy and Yamburg . After more than twenty years of production, the fields are now in decline. Production from the fields has decreased by twenty to twenty-five bcm per year. The production at Zaporliarnoe , Gazprom's fourth largest field, increased until 2004, offsetting the decline in the other fields. Since 2004, Gazprom has maintained production by activating new smaller fields and by purchasing production assets from other companies. Gazprom Neft produces crude oil. In 2005, Gazprom purchased 75 percent of

11832-562: The two countries' $ 400 billion energy pact. Beijing and Moscow are now negotiating over a second Far Eastern gas pipeline. In June 2014, Gazprom negotiated with the International Petroleum Investment Company (IPIC of Abu Dhabi ) over a 24.9 percent stake in the Austrian oil and gas firm OMV . In July 2014, Gazprom acquired Central Partnership , one of the largest film distributors in Russia. In September 2015

11948-472: The unquestionable reputation one would expect of a country's president. Patarkatsishvili earned 7% vote and came in third place. Patarkatsishvili was chairman of the Dinamo Tbilisi football club. He also served as president of the Georgian National Olympic Committee (GNOC), until being impeached on October 9, 2007, after falling out with the government. In September 2006, Patarkatsishvili announced that he

12064-509: Was a "mendacious individual" and "certainly not a witness of truth." After several further legal battles in the US, UK, and Georgia, the assets were returned to the Patarkatsishvili family. Another claim over the estate was launched in 2012 by Boris Berezovsky . Berezovsky claimed that half of Patarkatsishvili's assets belong to him under a handshake agreement that the two men made in 1995 to split all their commercial interests equally. However, following

12180-481: Was attempting to use his wealth to gain control of business life in Georgia. Patarkatsishvili began financing opposition parties in late 2006 and early 2007 and a pro-Patarkatsishvili group in parliament soon emerged that developed into the Our Georgia party. In late 2007, he became embroiled in a political scandal after former defense minister Irakli Okruashvili on September 25, 2007, accused Mikheil Saakashvili ,

12296-808: Was being sued by the European Union for signing a contract with Russia, which was not aligned with European Union regulations. The president of Bulgaria, Rosen Plevneliev , pressured the European Union and Russia to quickly resolve the matter. On 4 September 2012, the European Commission announced an anti-trust investigation into Gazprom's activities. This was based on "concerns that Gazprom may be abusing its dominant market position in upstream gas supply markets." In late November 2013, Gazprom expanded its media interests by acquiring Profmedia from Vladimir Potanin . On 21 May 2014, in Shanghai , Gazprom and

12412-479: Was considering a bid for the London football club West Ham . However, the deal never came to fruition. Patarkatsishvili, aged 52, collapsed at Downside Manor, his mansion in Leatherhead , Surrey , England on February 12, 2008, at 10.45 pm. Ambulance crew members tried unsuccessfully to resuscitate him, but he was pronounced dead at 10.52 pm. [2] As in any other case of unexpected death, Surrey police treated

12528-507: Was denied access to Gazprom's pipelines and came close to bankruptcy . In 2006, Itera agreed to return stolen assets to Gazprom for a fee. Browder was deported from Russia, in 2005, and the Russian arm of Hermitage Capital Management was seized two years later. In April 2001, Gazprom acquired NTV , Russia's only nationwide state-independent television station, from Vladimir Gusinsky 's company, Media-Most Holdings. Gusinsky fell out of Putin's favor after using NTV to publish criticism from

12644-468: Was gradually lowered to thirty-eight percent. Trading of Gazprom's shares was heavily regulated. Foreigners were prohibited from owning more than nine-percent of the shares. In October 1996, 1% of Gazprom's equity was offered for sale to foreigners as Global Depository Receipts . In 1997, Gazprom offered a bond issue of US$ 2.5 billion. Chernomyrdin, as Prime Minister of Russia , ensured Gazprom avoided tight state regulation. Gazprom evaded taxes, and

12760-466: Was losing his grip on power, he used his wealth to support the new opposition candidate Mikheil Saakashvili . During 2005, Patarkatsishvili hosted Boris Berezovsky and Neil Bush during their visit to Georgia. Relations between Patarkatsishvili and Saakashvili soon deteriorated, however, and they became bitter rivals. Patarkatsishvili claimed that this was due to the coverage given by Imedi to opposition parties; Saakasvili claimed that Patarkatsishvili

12876-526: Was made Chairman of the Board of Directors of Gazprom. When, in June 2000, Vladimir Putin became the President of Russia, he acted to gain control over Russia's oligarchs , and increase the Government of Russia's control in important companies through a program of national champions . Putin fired Chernomyrdin from his position as the Chairman of the Gazprom board. The Russian Government's stock in Gazprom gave Putin

12992-408: Was such that he began to fear that he may also be arrested, so in 2000, he left Moscow for his native Georgia. When Vladimir Putin was elected in March 2000, Patarkatsishvili hoped that the situation for Berezovsky and himself in Russia would improve. He and Berezovsky had supported Putin in his election campaign. Patarkatsishvili later claimed that he had recommended Putin to Pavel Borodin , then

13108-430: Was the full transcript of the recorded conversation which showed that Patarkatsishvili was advising against violence and the extracts released had been doctored The accusations forced Patarkatsishvili onto the defensive. He confirmed that he met with Kodua in London, but denied that the bribe was in connection to an alleged coup plot and claimed instead that his intention was to uncover what he said were official plans to rig

13224-579: Was the sole gas supplier to Bosnia and Herzegovina, Estonia, Finland, Macedonia, Latvia, Lithuania, Moldova, Serbia and Slovakia. It provided 97 percent of Bulgaria's gas, 89 percent of Hungary's gas, 86 percent of Poland's gas, nearly 75 percent of the Czech Republic's, 67 percent of Turkey's, 65 percent of Austria's, about 40 percent of Romania's, 36 percent of Germany's, 27 percent of Italy's, and 25 percent of France's gas. By December 2010 with strong support from Alexander Medvedev and Antonio Fallico, who

13340-526: Was the source of 40% of Gazprom's revenue. The proportion of Europe's gas bought in the spot market rose from 15 percent in 2008 to 44 percent in 2012. In September 2013, during the G20 summit, Gazprom signed an agreement with CNPC that the Henry Hub index would not be used to settle prices for their trades. On 21 May 2014, Putin met with Xi Jinping and negotiated a $ 400bn deal between Gazprom and CNPC. Under

13456-510: Was to become a close friend and business associate. In 1989, Patarkatsishvili and Berezovsky founded LogoVaz with some of the senior executives of AvtoVAZ. LogoVaz developed software for AvtoVAZ, sold Soviet-made cars and serviced foreign cars. It was established as a joint venture with Logo Systems, an Italian company, which at the time was seen as pioneering in commercial relationships between East and West. LogoVaz established an office in Georgia and Patarkatsishvili became Deputy Director General of

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