Russ Oil-Gas

MOSCOW, November 16 (RIA Novosti) - Gazprom [RTS: GAZP] has proposed replacing Alexander Ryazanov, the former head of the energy giant's oil unit, with the chief executive of Sibur, its petrochemical arm. Russia's gas monopoly Wednesday refused to extend its contract with Ryazanov, 53, relieving him of two posts as a deputy chairman of Gazprom's board and president of Gazprom Neft [RTS: SIBN], the company's oil asset taken over from the now bankrupt Yukos Oil Company last September. Ryazanov will remain on Sibur's management board. The proposed candidate, Alexander Dyukov, 38, a long-time associate of Gazprom CEO Alexei Miller, will be considered for the post of acting president at a Gazprom Neft management board session November 22. Shareholders will meet afterward to decide on his final appointment. Gazprom, which covers a quarter of Europe's gas needs, said Wednesday it would appoint Valery Golubev, 54, head of Gazprom's equipment and services arm and an ex-KGB officer like President Vladimir Putin, as Gazprom's deputy board chairman to succeed Ryazanov. Russia's leading business daily Kommersant quoted sources close to Gazprom and Gazprom Neft who put Ryazanov's dismissal down to disagreements with the gas monopoly's top management over the oil unit's independence. Ryazanov told the newspaper Wednesday that he saw "no point in staying at Gazprom Neft." "I was ready to head Gazprom Neft only if it really remained an independent company," he said. Ryazanov's successor on Gazprom's board, Golubev, comes from St. Petersburg and served in the KGB between 1979 and 1991, and then in the mayor's office at the same time as Putin, the paper said. Vremya Novostei, a popular daily, offers another explanation for Ryazanov's departure. It said the move comes as part of consolidation of the energy giant's personnel and financial assets in anticipation of the inevitable factional fighting within the presidential administration in the run-up to the presidential election of 2008. The paper said Ryazanov did not belong to any of the influence groups, which could have been a factor in his resignation.