Lord Browne bounces back into oil

http://www.theguardian.com/business/2015/mar/08/lord-browne-bounces-back-into-oil

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Why would someone of Lord Browne’s status in business, politics and culture want to hitch his wagon to fossil fuels again, especially ones with a whiff of Russian scandal about them?

You might have thought that at 67 he would prefer to spend more time seeking pre-Columbian artefacts at auction to add to his collection, or just sit on the sofa of his designer Chelsea home. But no, he has ditched his involvement with the government as its most senior in-house business adviser, thrown aside his chairmanship of private equity group Riverstone, and become executive chairman of L1 Energy.

This is no ordinary oil and gas business but a highly ambitious and acquisitive start-up, backed by huge dollops of cash provided by Russian oligarchs including Mikhail Fridman.

L1 is already in the middle of completing the purchase for $7bn (£4.6bn) of the German-based Dea oil business from local utility RWE but has plans to expand quickly and decisively in North America and the far east. And with that acquisition it has stepped headlong into a bust-up with the UK government. Dea owns North Sea fields and Westminster fears that future sanctions by the west against the Kremlin could now hit production.

Fridman and his friends are anything but Kremlin cronies. They were not happy about being forced to sell their holding in TNK-BP to state-owned Rosneft but have taken the $14bn to start L1.

Browne is also busy as chairman of the Tate gallery and establishing his Glass Closet organisation which campaigns on gay and lesbian rights. You would not have thought he would risk getting caught in an east-west political row. He is not talking yet, but friends say that he cannot resist an opportunity to create something new and dynamic. The man who pioneered “beyond petroleum” when he was at BP had been expected to at least go low-carbon.

Perhaps his ultimate aim is to take over his old firm. They have already joined forces on a $12bn natural gas venture in Egypt. BP is subject to endless merger rumours with Shell or ExxonMobil. Why not L1? It could even be renamed Browne Petroleum.