Gazprom: Russia's ministry of ambition

“The logic is not quite clear,” said political commentator Yulia Latynina, who writes for the opposition Novaya Gazeta.

“If Russia is trying to establish a monopoly by buying up all the gas in the world it will only push up prices for gas for those who sell it.”

“I think it is neither politics nor economics,” said Latynina. “It's already a psychiatric issue.”

The immense power of Gazprom was underlined to millions of European consumers this winter when the Russian gas giant cut off gas supplies to several states for two weeks in a dispute with Ukraine.

But Gazprom insists its interest in such far-flung projects is only natural for a company that can boast of being the world's largest gas firm.

“We are like a whale, the fish follow us,” Boris Ivanov, a senior Gazprom official said during the visit to Nigeria.

Ivanov boasted it was the first time NNPC agreed to a joint venture where it and a foreign partner would have equal stakes.

“The decision didn't come easy. President Umaru Yar'Adua has personally helped us,” said an official familiar with the talks, adding foreign energy majors operating in Africa lobbied hard to thwart the deal.

Some observers doubted Nigeria was worth the effort, pointing to political instability and attacks by rebels on pipeline facilities. Rebels responded to the Russian deal by immediately threatening to sabotage Gazprom's operations in the country.

Despite the risks, Gazprom indicated it hopes to control gas supplies out of Nigeria to Europe. “Whoever is located on the valves is the king,” Ivanov said.

Today's Gazprom — a company which has 17 percent of the global gas market and 60 percent of the Russian market — grew out of the USSR's Gas Industry Ministry.

The Gazprom State Gas Concern was founded in 1989 as the Communist Party pursued cautious liberalization policies just before the Soviet collapse.

It was then part-privatized from 1993 in the much-criticized sale of state assets in post-Soviet Russia. The state has retained a controlling stake of 50 percent, according to the company's Web site.

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