short biography
President of OJSC NK YUKOS.
Education
graduate School
Academic degrees and titles
The main stages of the biography
In 1995 he returned to Moscow
Anecdote from "Versia".
All observers note that Semyon Kukes has a unique experience for the domestic "oil industry", combining considerable experience in Western oil companies and successful work in leadership positions v Russian companies the fuel and energy sector.
facecollection.ru
Kukes Semyon Grigorievich | Person of the Russian Federation
Former Chairman of the Board of Directors and Chairman of the Management Board of the Yukos Oil Company
"Biography"
More details
In 1969 he graduated from the Moscow Institute of Chemical Technology. DI. Mendeleev with a degree in technology vacuum pumps».
In 1969-70. worked as a process engineer at the Titan Production Association, where he received his first copyright certificate.
In 1973, at the Institute of Organoelement Compounds. AN Nesmeyanova of the USSR Academy of Sciences (INEOS) defended his Ph.D. thesis on the topic "Kinetics of chemical reactions". He worked at INEOS until 1977 as a junior researcher, research worker.
In 1996-98. - First Vice-President of YUKOS Oil Company for Sales.
Since February 1998 - President of the Tyumen Oil Company. US citizen.
March 2003 - June 2003 - Advisor to the President and Management Board of TNK-BP
In 2003, at the annual general meeting of shareholders of OJSC NK Yukos, S. Kukes was elected to the board of directors of the company.
Third-party characteristics
Kukes is too calm and withdrawn to be like a typical American. And besides, it has little in common with Russian businessmen. Unlike most Russian businessmen, he is approachable, modest and polite. One of the obvious successes of Kukes is the transfer of the Samotlor field to the production sharing agreement regime. (Business People magazine, January 5, 2001).
"Svyaz / Partners"
Mikhail Borisovich Khodorkovsky - Russian businessman, public and political figure, publicist. In 1997-2004. was a co-owner and head of the Yukos oil company. Arrested on charges of embezzlement and tax evasion on October 25, 2003.
Lebedev Platon Leonidovich - Russian businessman, co-founder of Bank MENATEP, former chairman of the board of directors of Group MENATEP. Served 10.5 years of imprisonment in a general regime colony on charges of embezzlement, tax evasion, legalization of stolen funds (July 2003 - January 2014). According to the definition of the international human rights organization, Amnesty International was recognized as a prisoner of conscience.
"Ratings"
100 most strategic managers 2002,
The Yukos affair "
"News"
Semyon Kukes sells oil
The representative of Gazprom Neft confirmed interest in the purchase of Samara-Nafta. His colleagues from Rosneft, Bashneft and Surgutneftegaz left the issue without comment. A Goldman Sachs spokesman declined to comment. His colleague from Lukoil said that the company does not apply for the purchase of Samara-Nafta, since it does not work in this region. Representatives of Russneft, Neftegazindustriya and Khotin were inaccessible to journalists yesterday. Their colleague from Hess and the general director of Samara-Nafta, Semyon Kukes, did not respond to requests from Vedomosti.
Uncle Sema's Indians
A native of Russia, Semyon Kukes immigrated to America a long time ago, made a brilliant career there and returned to Russia as an American in spirit and citizenship. Thus, "Samara-Nafta" is 90% a conditional "Uncle Sam" and 10% - a specific "Uncle Sem", as he is affectionately called in the company. The success of Samara-Nafta is largely due to the professionalism of the team, as well as significant investments from the Americans, for whom the Russian direction is just one of hundreds of others.
Semyon Kukes has extensive experience in America and Russia. Immediately after the landing of Mikhail Khodorkovsky, he headed the funeral team of Yukos and learned well the sad lessons of Russian political initiative - things are going on quietly. In Samara, it keeps aloof, minimizing contacts with the local administrative flora and business fauna. In the public field, he is cautious and rare, daring only in “greeting the strengthening of state control over the oil industry,” because business loves the loyalty of the authorities and silence.
"God sees everything": Viktor Gerashchenko revealed the secrets of the YUKOS case
At that time, two of the 11 members of the council dropped out: Khodorkovsky, who was in prison, and Semyon Kukes, the former chairman, who soon left the company. According to Beilin, none of the remaining members of the council wanted to take the chair. But it is clear that YUKOS hoped that it would be easier for them to reach out to people in power and negotiate with me.
The heyday and decline of Yukos
At the time of his arrest, Mikhail Khodorkovsky was the richest businessman in Russia, and in the ranking of the richest people in the world, according to Forbes, he was 16th. The entrepreneur's fortune was estimated at $ 15 billion. By the beginning of November, the head of the company had resigned. Semyon Kukes first received the post of CEO, and in the summer of 2004 he was replaced by Stephen Michael Theede. At the end of October 2003, by a decision of the Prosecutor General's Office, 53% of the company's assets were arrested as security for damages in a criminal case. In July 2004, a consortium of creditor banks that provided Yukos with a $ 1 billion loan (ING, HSBC, Deutsche Bank, Credit Lyonnais, Commerzbank, Citigroup and Societe Generale) notified the company of its default and began to write off YUKOS funds. The next step was a notification of default and a demand to repay the $ 1.6 billion loan.
whoiswhopersona.info
Influential Kukes under the hood of the CIA :: Politics
The list of the most influential immigrants from our country in the United States includes Mikhail Baryshnikov, Anna Kournikova, Elena Bonner and Semyon Kukes. In the biography of the head of YUKOS there are fewer and fewer "white spots"
Based on a survey of experts, the Washington Profile agency has compiled a list of the most influential immigrants from the former USSR and Russia in the United States. An impromptu jury, which included scientists, teachers, journalists, experts professionally studying the culture, economics, history and politics of our country, was offered to choose 10 from the initial list, which included 50 names.
The most influential were selected according to the following criteria: the degree of influence in professional fields - in science, painting, literature, the degree of popularity among ordinary Americans, the level of influence in politics or economics.
So, the top ten of the most-most included: 1. Mikhail Baryshnikov - ballet dancer, choreographer, actor; 2. Anna Kournikova - tennis player and fashion model; 3. Dmitry Simes - President of the Nixon Research Center; 4. Leon Aron - Director of Russian Studies, Institute for American Entrepreneurship; 5. Nikolai Zlobin - Director of Russian and Asian Programs at the Center for Defense Information; 6. Elena Bonner - human rights activist, widow of A.D. Sakharov; 7. Yuri Temirkanov - conductor of the Baltimore Symphony Orchestra; 8. Semyon Kukes - businessman, head of the YUKOS company; 9. Ariel Cohen - Lead Research Fellow at the Heritage Foundation; 10. Eduard Lozansky is a publisher and lobbyist and president of the American University in Moscow.
Only the lazy does not know Baryshnikov and Kournikova. The merits of the former are obvious, and the latter are somewhat dubious, but still they are heard not only in America, but also in their historical homeland. Elena Bonner is also more than well-known in Russia. We know a little less about the rest of the persons involved in the list, except, perhaps, Semyon Kukes, who took the honorable eighth place.
After the scandalous arrest of Khodorkovsky and the election of a man whose name is Semyon Grigorievich, and in the States - Simon Gregory, the head of the largest oil company in Russia, everyone learned the name of Kukes, although we know little about him, except for dry facts from the official biography. The weekly Sobesednik tried to eliminate the "blank spots" in the biography of an American Russian (or a Russian American?).
So, the new head of Yukos received American citizenship 30 years ago. And Senya Kukes was born in December 1946 in a family of employees. The boy and his brother were raised by their mother. The Kukesov family lived on Michurinsky Prospekt, by the standards of that time - on the outskirts of Moscow.
Semyon graduated from school with a medal and entered the Moscow Institute of Chemical Technology. Mendeleev - Mikhail Khodorkovsky began to study there a little later. Kukes graduated from the institute with honors.
Around the same time, he married for the first time - to a girl who studied a course younger. At first, the young lived with the Kukes family, and then rented a room in the center of the capital.
After working for some time at the production institute "Titan" in Cheryomushki, Semyon entered the postgraduate course of the Institute of Organoelement Compounds. Nesmeyanov. As a student and then a graduate student, Kukes was fond of wrestling, chess and preference and, according to people who knew him at that time, had an adventurous streak.
Quite unexpectedly for most of his acquaintances, Semyon left for the States. He quietly published several scientific articles in Western publications, patented his inventions (by that time Kukes had become a research assistant in a laboratory that studied free radicals), looked for a place of work - RICE University in Houston, learned English and presented everyone with a fact. The wife could not go with Semyon, and therefore (or perhaps for a completely different reason) they parted.
“It was boring in Russia then. I wanted to do business, but it was forbidden. To make a career, you had to be a member of the Communist Party. I was far from politics,” the businessman himself says.
In the United States, Kukes, as planned, took a job at a prestigious private university, and then took the post technical director at the oil company Phillips Petroleum. He later moved to a similar position at Amoco Oil and soon became vice president of its Moscow office. Then he returned to Russia. By that time, Semyon Grigorievich was already married for the second time - to an emigrant from the USSR. The businessman rarely sees his family (he has children) - his relatives stayed in New York.
In 1996, Kukes became the first vice-president of Yukos for sales, but soon he was lured away by competitors from TNK. After the merger of the Tyumen Oil Company with British Petroleum, Semyon Grigorievich had to take a position in NK, which did not suit him well, and he returned to Yukos, where he immediately joined the Board of Directors, and on November 4, 2003, was elected Chairman of the Board of the company.
Kukes is not a major shareholder, he has practically no property left in the United States, but as a hired manager he receives a fabulous salary. In Russia, everything is relatively well for him so far (at least better than that of Khodorkovsky), but in America the CIA is interested in the activities of the Russian. It is not known exactly what claims the special services have against the businessman - most of the dossier on him is kept under the heading "secret". According to the "Interlocutor", he is suspected of giving bribes to local authorities.
utro.ru
Kukes Semyon Grigorievich in the news and press
bot is much more important than even the functioning of the entire fuel and energy complex - without the state there will be no industry. The crisis, from my point of view, has only benefited - not only the industry, but the entire Russian economy. It became possible to reduce production costs, people and companies became more mobile, business meeting began to pass faster. Of course, the events of August 17 were extremely painful, but Russian business became much stronger as a result. I am not afraid to say that in two years time Russian oil companies will take leading positions in the world market. The industry is developing very dynamically after the crisis. For what the enterprises of the fuel and energy complex have accomplished over the past year, Western companies would need at least three years. I would like to note that the current rise in the world oil market has hurt us in some way. Seeing that the situation was improving, some thought: why am I going to shrink, reduce the administrative staff, optimize the production chain? If prices remained low for another five to six years, many would go bankrupt, which is useful. Those companies that work ineffectively have now “jumped out” due to the rise in prices, and did not come under the control of more competent managers - I remember that when we talked with you about a year ago, in the midst of the crisis, you mentioned one more plus extreme cheapness of good specialists, managers, who were released after all layoffs. Did TNK manage to get these specialists? - We hired very good financiers, production workers, PR specialists and we continue to hire them. It's more difficult with managers. Oil workers were not cut so much, especially after oil prices began to rise - and this, I recall, happened at the beginning of the year. So the managers are tight, but the backbone of TNK is professional, I think, first of all, because of this we are so firmly on our feet today - Agree that in your forecasts for the development of the oil industry, you are quite alone. Other experts, in particular LUKOIL vice-president Leonid Fedun, predict an imminent death of the industry: they say that the oil wells are exhausted, and there is no new money for drilling. Where is the truth? - It seems to me doubtful that LUKOIL had any big problems... I understand these statements by Fedun as an expression of his general concern: if the state chokes the industry with taxes, if production sharing agreements do not work, it will be very difficult to find a partner. Now foreign companies do not want to work with ours on "onshore" projects. It is not known what this or that governor will decide tomorrow, how relations with the owners of oil pipelines will develop, what will be the tariffs for the transshipment of raw materials from pipes to tankers, etc. On the shelf, organizational issues are much easier to resolve: an agreement with the federal authorities - and the oil is transported by sea without any problem. The rules of the game are much clearer here, and the risk of them changing is much lower. By the way, this is typical for everyone developing countries So Fedun's concern is justified: if the state suddenly begins to drastically change the rules of the game, then the situation could seriously worsen. And you don't have to go far for an example - take at least the spring cartel agreement (on freezing prices for a wide range of industrial products - Kommersant). It seems to me that it was completely wrong: the state should regulate the oil industry, but state regulation cannot replace itself market mechanisms. I believe that the fact that the new prime minister made the decision to abandon the cartel agreement will play a positive role - If you criticize this document so harshly, why then did you sign it? - One in the field is not a warrior. TNK was the last company to join the agreement - That is, your forecast regarding the imminent prosperity of the oil industry will come true, provided that the current stability in the industry continues for any length of time? - Quite right. After all, we do not know how long the high oil prices will last, how stable the situation inside Russia will be. If the cost of hydrocarbons does not fall below $ 16 per barrel, then I am sure the forecast is quite realistic. I believe that the main thing for us is to provide some kind of stability, predictability in the industry on which the whole Russian economy... It is necessary, for example, to actively use the hedging instrument, that is, when contracts for the supply of products at a fixed price are concluded for a long time. This would allow our state to experience changes in market conditions less painfully. Judge for yourself: this year's budget is based on a price of $ 16 per barrel of oil. Today it is sold for $ 20.5, but six months ago, “black gold” was worth half as much! And no one can guarantee that the price of hydrocarbons will not fall again next month. How then will we pay pensions and salaries to state employees? Let's hedge oil at $ 18 per barrel, and the budget will certainly not fail. But today I cannot hedge. Imagine, I made a deal at the rate of $ 18 per barrel, and tomorrow its price will jump to - relatively speaking - $ 30. They will come to me from the tax office, they will say: pay at the maximum rate if you get such excess profits. And if I suddenly declare that I am trading oil at $ 18 a barrel, who will believe me? In the best case, they will laugh, in the worst case, they will plant an oil refinery - the main problem of the oil industry. - It turns out that there are no problems in the “oil industry” at all? - If we talk about problems, they should be looked for in oil refining. To say that the equipment of Russian refineries is worn out is to say nothing. It is completely archaic, focused on engines that use diesel fuel and 76-th gasoline. And the entire modern car fleet is cars that feed exclusively on the 92nd or 95th. Moreover, the number of cars increased for last years many times, but the capacity of the factories did not increase. Moreover, the best refineries were given to the “brotherly” peoples: the Miazhekyai refinery to the Lithuanians, the Pavlodar refinery to the Kazakhs. Without exception, the refineries require not even modernization, but a complete restructuring. This is a minimum investment of $ 250 million per plant. But even if this money is found, problems will remain: taxes on new equipment, VAT, etc. I believe that today we need a production sharing agreement for an oil refinery. So that an investor who decides to invest in the modernization of factories, firstly, is exempt from taxes at the first, investment stage of the project, and secondly, he can be sure that in those few years during which the project should reach recoupment , the rules of the game will not change. After all, some kind of stability is needed, without this it is impossible. When I come to negotiations and declare: “I have a one-year plan”, everyone laughs at me - well, what is the one-year plan, if it is not known what will be tomorrow? But you can't exist like that. Stability is needed, and we oil companies are willing to pay for this stability. If it does not exist, the fuel crises will not stop, but will repeat from year to year - But this summer the fuel hunger manifested itself completely unexpectedly? - On the contrary, he was absolutely predictable. Back in the winter I said: a critical situation will develop on the fuel market in the summer. After all, fuel was usually accumulated during the “off season” - in winter, when many motorists put their cars “on hold”. However, this winter, those tankers who were in dire need of cash were selling off all their supplies despite the unfavorable market conditions. As a result, when we entered the “season”, the situation with gasoline was just awful: the country had only 10 days of fuel reserves - against 45 in previous years! It is not surprising that the market was in a fever in May-June. In my opinion, we still got off easy, as “for luck” we have not very good luck this year. good harvest - first drought, then rains. If the farmers needed more fuel for harvesting and other purposes, the fuel crisis could easily turn into a real disaster I am glad that I could foresee this outcome, Back in April I gave a command to my managers: buy gasoline from other oil companies, but fill TNK's storage facilities ... This measure allowed the Tyumen Oil Company to painlessly overcome the crisis: you will not see a sign “No petrol” on any of our columns. We met summer with a 16-day reserve, now we hold the reserve at the level of 12 days. At the same time, our turnovers have grown: seeing that there is no fuel at a nearby gas station, consumers begin to siege TNK's gas stations - The latest fuel crisis shocked motorists. In your recent interview with Kommersant, you said that gasoline prices could rise by another 10-15%, that the balance of supply and demand allows this - and the price of fuel increased by almost 30%. Why did it happen? - I was expecting an increase in prices in May and another one in August. Now, in my opinion, prices have reached a ceiling, sometimes they are even higher than the world prices, if we do not count taxes. For example, in the USA a liter of Ai-95 costs 35 cents, of which the manufacturer receives about 20 cents, the rest goes to taxes. In Europe, 95th gasoline costs a dollar per liter, but this price includes a tax of 75-80%, that is, the seller's income after paying all these fees is the same 20 cents. For us, gasoline of this brand already costs 25 cents, and the owners of the nuclear power plant pay taxes as they want. The current price for fuel, undoubtedly, suits both producers and sellers - but it is already at the limit of effective demand. I believe that in the future it may decrease somewhat and certainly will not grow with the onset of autumn. Moreover, at current prices, exporting gasoline - if you do it honestly, paying all the required fees - is already unprofitable. Thus, one of the reasons for the shortage, namely the export of fuel outside Russia, has already ceased to be relevant - To what extent is the fuel market ready to become self-regulating? - This is a difficult question. The market is still extremely inflexible. Now, if we, in principle, abandon the regulation of the fuel market, then after a while the oilmen themselves will begin to appeal to the state: take us under your wing again! This is not a feature of the fuel and energy complex; this has happened before in other industries, in other countries. Remember, in America, they refused to regulate the prices of air tickets? Allowed the classic law of supply and demand to determine the cost of air travel - and how did it all end? A number of airlines, for example Pan American, went bankrupt.So in developed countries the economy is regulated without being in the least embarrassed by the “non-market” nature of such actions. Did you know that the Americans allowed the export of oil from Alaska only in 1992, and before that the hydrocarbons of the peninsula were "restricted to travel abroad" - all of them went to the US domestic market A prerequisite In order to create a free fuel market in Russia, the creation of an exchange of oil products is necessary. After all, how is it today? Each plant provides its own region, with prices in each of them their own. If there is an exchange, it will balance the market, make it liquid - then one can think about its liberalization, but not earlier. But even in this case, some elements of regulation will remain. On the same exchange, if the price falls below a certain level during the day, then trading is suspended. The market should not be allowed to go by itself. Weak enterprises need bankruptcy. A year ago, you predicted a large redistribution of the oil industry. However, this did not happen. Where did you go wrong? - The status quo on the oil market has indeed remained. The reason: world oil prices have grown much faster than could have been predicted last fall. And it seems to me that these are the most negative consequences of the fact that the price situation on the oil market has improved. The redistribution of property would lead to a more efficient operation of the entire fuel and energy complex - weak enterprises would be at the disposal of the stronger ones, which would benefit both of them, and the entire economy as a whole. As for the privatization of state oil companies such as Rosneft ”And“ Slavneft ”, we have not abandoned our plans. We are still interested in some of their assets, and we will certainly take part in all tenders for their sale - Do you think that these companies will be sold? After all, on their basis they have long been going to make a large state oil holding - I think they should be sold. The state needs money, and the privatization of state property - real way to get this money - There is also SIDANCO, which TNK has been trying to absorb since spring. What explains such an interest in this company? -SIDANCO is a promising company with great potential. Her only weakness- management. He did not manage to manage the company, and its affairs went nowhere worse: debts, a drop in production, layoffs, etc., etc. We saw that we could improve the situation, and until SIDANCO was torn to pieces, we began to prepare for to buy up her obligations. We also started buying up the debts of its subsidiary, Chernogorneft. Chernogorka is technologically closely related to TNK, we work at one field - Samotlor. The merger with Chernogorka will bring benefits to both companies, I think it is completely logical - you stated that you would like to take part in the relationship between SIDANCO and its shareholder BP Amoso. However, you have not yet managed to come to an agreement with this British company - British Petroleum is a large company, a serious partner. It is very interesting for us to work with them. After all, imagine what will happen if Chernogorku is captured by some “dark” structure: all resources are sucked out of the company. They will barbarously pump out the oil that can be extracted without significant capital investments, and the deposits will be corny ruined. Together with BP, we have an increased chance of preventing such managers from visiting Chernogorneft. Another thing is that so far it has not been very successful to establish a dialogue with BP. But I think that we will be able to agree when the British believe that we do not want to snatch something from them and infringe on their interests. They know that we are ready for negotiations, and there will be no obstacles to dialogue. Restrained optimism - And what is happening with the oil industry, so to speak, on a global scale? The price of oil is growing steadily, but how long will this trend continue? - In my opinion, the world has recovered from economic crisis Production began to grow, including in Asian countries in Latin America, in the United States, factories are well loaded, at 97-98% of production capacity. Resource consumption is growing, the demand for energy resources - it is not surprising that prices have jumped. In addition, there is a speculative factor. Look: crude oil prices are slightly increasing, and refineries are taking a wait-and-see attitude: waiting for prices to fall again in order to buy raw materials cheaply. While they are waiting, they manage to “eat through” the accumulated reserves of raw materials - and even begin to buy up expensive oil. As a result, an emergency demand for raw materials arises - that is, the factor that plays to the increase in prices starts to work. I cannot say anything about when the trend will change and instead of growth it will begin to fall. And I shouldn't say, this is not my diocese. If I start playing a guessing game with prices in the oil market, I will turn into a small oil trader. Dismiss - I have other tasks - Let's say crude oil quotes go down sharply, the situation of last year repeats itself: the inability to pay debts, etc. How will the oil industry react to this? - You know, it is very rare that one case can teach something. I worked in Western companies, and they seem to be like that, they are all experienced, sophisticated - and every time they also step on the same rake. As soon as the price of oil falls, they begin to shrink, reduce personnel, close wells, concentrate on oil refining - after all, when the cost of raw materials falls, this can increase profitability final product... And as soon as oil prices went up, they recruit people again, unfreeze investment projects - in general, everything is new. The crisis has definitely taught us one very important thing - the ability to conduct a dialogue with the state. The doors of the government are open, companies regularly submit reports to the Ministry of Fuel and Energy. There are very good, competent specialists here now, you speak the same language with them. People understand the problems of the industry. When it is difficult for everyone, you need to be able to listen to each other and understand the problems not only of your own, but also of other participants in the process. We are all sailing in the same boat - this is what we have been able to understand as a result of the crisis. What lessons has TNK learned specifically? We have managed to take a strong position in the domestic market, which provides us with a relative resilience to any crisis. Look: today all sales in our country go through our own system of gas stations. What would I do differently? Do not know. If we take a look back and evaluate how we worked for the whole past year, then everything, I think, was right. - And what about the domestic market - what are its prospects? What will happen in our economy in the medium and long term? - I see that in Russia fuel consumption per capita, that is, per car, is growing. This means that people drive more, spend more - activity is growing. And this instills optimism: after the fall, the economy is gradually recovering. I am convinced that such a serious crisis will never happen again. People, companies, and the state itself already know how to behave in a crisis. In Russia, people learn very quickly [Nikolay Poluetkov ЪД 7.09.99]
What do you expect from the new Duma? Semyon Kukes, President of TNK - The main result of the elections is that serious, responsible parties received the majority of votes. There is a noticeable shift in the population's sympathies towards the parties of the right and centrist orientations. We consider the election results to be favorable. The new Duma will be much “to the right” of the previous ones. We hope that it will be able to establish closer contact with the executive branch, to more effectively pass laws that create conditions for strengthening the market economy and raising production [ЪД, 21.12.99]
Social load of the head of TNK President - Chairman of the Board of OJSC Tyumen Oil Company (TNK) Semyon Kukes became a member of the US Foreign Policy Association - the oldest American public organization in the field of international relations, established on a non-partisan basis in 1918. On April 17, 2000, the steering committee of the Foreign Policy Association unanimously elected Kukes as a member of the newly created international advisory council. This council will include 25 people representing the business and intellectual elite of the world's leading countries. The tasks of the council are to discuss the problems of international life, expert examination of the reports of the Foreign Policy Association [ЪД, 21.04.00]
Kukes Joins the World Elite The Steering Committee of the US Foreign Policy Association - the oldest American public organization in the field of international relations - has elected the president of the Russian Tyumen Oil Company (TNK) Semyon Kukes as a member of its newly created International Advisory Council (ISC). This was reported to INTERFAX-ANI in the press service of TNK. This is the first time a representative of a large Russian business has been admitted to the association. The ISS will include 25 people representing the business and intellectual elite of the world's leading countries. The council's tasks are to discuss the problems of international life, to examine the reports of the foreign policy association. “The knowledge and experience of Kukes in terms of doing international business will be very useful for our association,” said its president and chairman of the board, Noel Latif [Vn, 24.04.00]
ONE OF 35 BEST RUSSIAN MANAGERS Kukes Semyon Grigorievich 53 years old. Graduated from the Moscow Institute of Chemical Technology, candidate of chemical sciences. Until 1996, he worked for the Amoco corporation, the last position was vice president of “Amoso-Eurasia” (Moscow). From 1996 to 1998, he was the first vice president of the YUKOS company. From 1998 to the present - President, Chairman of the Board of the Tyumen Oil Company. Professional achievements: under the leadership of S. G. Kukes, Tyumen Oil Company became the most aggressive in the industry. Over the past year and a half TNK has acquired Chernogorneft and Kondpetroleum, as well as stakes in Megionneftegaz, Slavneft and Rusia Petroleum [E., No. 18., 15.05.00]
Subject of litigation TNK President Semyon Kukes is convinced that the authorities and business need to come to an agreement, and not delve into the past. On Friday, the Russian president must clearly declare his policy towards big business. The issue of revising privatization and further state policy to strengthen the vertical of power worries practically all representatives of both Russian and Western business circles today. The President of the Tyumen Oil Company (TNK) - the leader in attracting Western investments in the oil business - SEMEN KUKES - Semyon Grigorievich expressed his opinion on this issue to the correspondent of "Segodnya" MILANA DAVYDOVA, will you participate in Putin's meeting with representatives of Russian business and what results do you expect ? - I am not an "oligarch", I am a hired manager, so I will not be able to take part in this event. At the same time, I believe that Russian oligarchs are smart people and strong personalities... The authorities and business need to be able to negotiate and look into the future together, and not delve into the past. Unfortunately, our laws are such that almost any person, any company can be the subject of legal proceedings, it all depends on how to interpret the law. What was considered punishable yesterday has become the norm today, and vice versa The tasks of government and business should be interconnected. Now the state must guarantee stability, improve the investment climate in the country by creating a normal tax system, and companies - to pay taxes and work according to the established rules. The first steps of the president in the field of the tax system inspire me with certain confidence - Against the background of recent events and statements by the FSNP that the main things are still ahead, information has appeared that one of the largest shareholders of your company, Alfa Group, is being followed. Doesn't that scare you? “I don’t know about surveillance. I'm not being followed, that's for sure. If the tax service comes to us, then there is nothing wrong with that, we did not break the law. I admit that sometimes we have to interpret the tax law, but he himself leaves room for this. Let the tax authorities study everything - Recently, the head of the state-owned company Slavneft, Mikhail Gutseriev, announced the possibility of revising the privatization of the company you lead and returning it to the fold of the state. Your comment? - I believe that the privatization of TNK took place according to the law. There were several companies in the competition, and everyone had a chance to buy shares. As for Slavneft, we have been saying for a long time that it would be advisable for Russia to combine the assets of TNK and Slavneft - fields are located nearby, factories are located in the central part of the country. We offered our own version of the merger of the two companies to the government a year and a half ago, but former Deputy Prime Minister Vladimir Bulgak proposed creating a single company based on three state-owned companies and our Tyumen oil company. But all our calculations were for TNK and Slavneft. From the point of view of reducing the cost of oil and increasing the company's competitiveness, there is economic sense, this is a plus for the Russian fuel and energy complex. This is good for the investment climate. Who will run such a company is another matter. In Russia, the process of an economically profitable merger has not yet been completed - In your opinion, what will happen to the Russian oil industry in five years? How many companies will remain on the market and which ones? - I think that in addition to a large number of small companies, 4-5 large companies will remain. I cannot name them now - But the three leaders have already been determined? - Not at all. There is not big companies much more optimal at work than large ones. In addition, large companies are often strong in lobbying and pursuing corporate rather than national interests. Therefore, judging from the experience of the West, we can say that the configuration of forces can change dramatically - Should the state regulate the oil industry? - It should, but skillfully and professionally. Regulation of the oil industry is not at all about granting additional rights to selected companies, not arbitrary redistribution of oil capacities. In the meantime, state regulation looks exactly like this - Is the West ready to invest in the Russian oil industry today? - While there is no trust in us, you can count on one hand the companies that manage to get loans in the West. TNK is a flagship in this sense: we have attracted $ 700 million of foreign investment this year. They began to trust us, and this good sign... It remains for the entire Russian economy to follow this path - What, in your opinion, slows down this process? - Talk about nationalization and deprivatization - Our economy is largely dependent on oil prices. Analysts predict their decline by the end of the year to $ 17 per barrel. Your opinion? - I think that by the end of the year oil may cost $ 22 per barrel. For Russia, this is a completely acceptable level [Davydova Milana, S., 25.07.00]
Parker Drilling Company Semyon Kukes, President of the Tyumen Oil Company (TNK), has been elected to the board of directors of the American company Parker Drilling Company, which is one of the world leaders in drilling services and leasing of oil equipment. The Oil Information Agency (ANI) was informed about it in the press service of TNK. According to the press service, this is the first time a Russian businessman has entered the governing bodies of a large American company, whose shares are listed on the New York Stock Exchange. Semyon Kukes became head of TNK in 1998. Prior to that, he served as vice president for marketing and oil refining of the Moscow office. company Amoco Oil and the post of the first vice president for sales of NK "YUKOS" By the way, last year Semyon Kukes was named by the Central European Economic Review (published by The Wall Street Journal) one of the ten best managers Central Europe 1998 He was the only Russian to be included in this list. As the newspaper wrote then, Kukes was singled out for the fact that during the management of TNK he managed to significantly reduce the cost of oil production, increase the workload of the subsidiary refinery and the number of the company's filling stations [Ved., 31.07.00]
A joke instead of a jobber How an oil general became a wedding general We continue to publish materials about today's Russian oligarchs or people trying to look like oligarchs. This title has considerably faded and even diminished. Apparently, now, the term introduced into the modern political vocabulary by the famous journalist Alexander Privalov, it is necessary to look for a new equivalent. But for now we will use the old one. Who is next in line here? Semyon Kukes, head of TNK. The rest - get ready! According to an old well-known anecdote, when things go badly in a brothel, it is recommended not to repaint the walls, but to change the girls. Russian oligarchs seem to have adopted this principle quite well. In any case, the most “progressive” of them simply consider it their duty to periodically shake up the top management of their companies. Moreover, according to the fashion that started in the mid-90s, foreign managers are often called up as recruits. A priori, it is believed that foreigners, firstly, do not steal, and secondly, it will be easier for them to find mutual language with Western partners, with whom the owners have to negotiate on attracting loans, strategic partnerships, etc. Apparently, thanks to approximately the same logic, a re-emigrant with an American passport, Semyon Grigorievich Kukes (aka Simon Gregory), changed the chair of vice president for marketing and oil refining of the Moscow office of the American company Amoso for the position of first vice president of the Russian oil company YUKOS She is well known in narrow oil circles passion of the head of YUKOS Mikhail Khodorkovsky for building a business according to schemes proposed by foreign consultants. Therefore, the employees of the Russian oil company No. 2, accustomed to everything, were not surprised at the exotic candidacy of a new vice president. Specialized education, work experience in a large western oil company, fluency in Russian and English- Semyon Grigorievich was a dream come true of recruiters who did not hide their ardent desire to sell him to new employers at a higher price. In Yukos, Kukes was entrusted with overseeing sales, that is, a network of gas stations owned by this oil company. Eyewitnesses of Semyon Grigorievich's stay within the walls of YUKOS say that pretty soon the vice president's reception was empty: the subordinates felt that new boss, enriched by the experience of working at Amoco, who never had a single gas station in Russia, is unlikely to be able to tell them something fundamentally new regarding the specific principles of running the gasoline business in the country. “Jobber dispensers” (usually owned by small independent gas station firms, which, according to the jobber agreement, “take the flag” of the oil company, which guarantees them the supply of fuel. Jobbers, in turn, undertake to work only with the parent company, sharing profits with it). However, what is good for an American is, as you know, death for a Russian. Partners Semyon Grigorievich came across more and more some thieving, striving to hide the profit. The situation for the initiator of the bold action became more and more unpleasant, and rescue came from the recruiters again. Even at the time when Mr. Kukes was fighting the hordes of unenlightened Yukos jobbers brought to life by his will, a new star rose on the Russian oil horizon. It was called the Tyumen Oil Company (TNK). After the events repeatedly described in the press in the darkest colors, power on the new star was seized by Novy Holding, a consortium of the Russian Alfa Group and the US-Russian Renova. These more than serious guys knew everything about the oil business, because the Alfa-Eco trading house, one of the largest
personize.ru
Quiet and positive Semyon Kukes // In the States, he played chess for money and saved on gasoline, using a machine using a joint
Quiet and positive Semyon Kukes
In the States, he played chess for money and saved on gasoline by using a machine.
The original of this material © "Well", 10.08.1999
July 29, 1999, "Rossiyskaya Gazeta" Interview with Semyon Kukes, President of the Tyumen Oil Company: "To live in an oil state, but not to have gasoline ?!"
In his interview, Mr. Kukes discusses the inefficiency of Russians: “Look. What happens in the morning in Moscow and in other cities. Our norm is one person in the car. What does this mean? . how to save it. That it is much lower than the consumer can pay. "
Mr. Kukes recalls that when he lived in America, he had to share a car with his technician and engineer. "A day later, I left home for work, picked up one, the second, and then delivered them, although it was very inconvenient ...".
"SKVAZHINA" offers to support Semyon Grigorievich. For example, in order to save energy, take turns using refrigerators. A week for one, a week for another. At the same time, by the way, they will eat less - you cannot buy an extra piece of sausage, because you understand what it will turn into in a week without a refrigerator ... You can also save the trees that are used to make matches. So that at least ten people would light a cigarette from one match. And so on.
© "Interlocutor", 16.12.2003, "Quiet American", Photo: "Vremya novostei"
Oleg Roldugin
Seeds Kukes is considered to be a "quiet American": very little is known about him. The official biography on the Yukos website was not without errors. Meanwhile, it would be worth more to know about Kukes, since he is an extraordinary and ambiguous personality. For some, he is a “big smart girl,” while for others, he is a dark horse, a businessman against whom a lawsuit has been filed in the District Court of New York.
With his first wife he lived with his parents
The childhood of Semyon Kukes, or simply Seni, is shrouded in mystery. We can only say with certainty that he was born in Moscow in December 1946 into a family of employees. Senya, his brother Vladimir and sister Mina were brought up by their mother Galina Naumovna. Much later, stepfather Abram Mikhlin appeared in the house.
In the 60s, Mikhlins-Kukes lived at the very beginning of Michurinsky Prospect (now it is almost the center, then it was almost the outskirts).
The mansions were not lordly: two small adjoining rooms and a tiny kitchen, - in a conversation with me, Kukes' first wife Valentina Chukova recalled.
There was no school nearby, so Senya went to comprehend knowledge in several stops. Which, however, did not prevent him from graduating from the tenth grade with a medal and entering the Moscow Institute of Chemical Technology - the same one that Mikhail Khodorkovsky later chose.
The Department of Chemistry and Technology of Crystals of the Engineering Physico-Chemical Faculty of the Moscow Institute of Chemical Technology, where Kukes studied, in those years just ceased to be closed. Therefore, enrolling there and studying was not an easy task. However, Senya coped with both the first and the second tasks perfectly. Literally - graduated from the institute with honors. Excerpt from the characteristics of the graduate of the Moscow Art Institute S.G. Kukesa, which fell into my hands, speaks for itself:
“During his studies, he showed himself to be a capable student, inclined to scientific research... From the first year he studied at the NSO of the institute, was the head of the mathematical circle. He graduated with honors from a two-year German language course. Took Active participation in the public life of the institute. He was awarded a certificate of commendation as a trade union organizer of the group. Has a sports category in sambo and chess. "
Sport and brought Senya to his first wife.
I also studied at the Moscow Institute of Chemical Technology, albeit at a different faculty and a year younger. I played volleyball, and he went to the wrestling section. On this basis, and met, - recalls Valentina Chukova. - In February 1970 he defended his diploma, and after that we got married.
According to Chukova, the wedding was modest, they walked with the groom's parents. At first we lived there, but then we moved closer to the center of Moscow, renting a room in Bogoslovsky Lane, near Tverskoy Boulevard.
I was afraid that after working at the vegetable warehouse he would lose his foot
After graduation, Semyon was assigned to a certain production institute "Titan" in Cheryomushki, which wore the laurels of a prestigious "box" where they were engaged in space development and defense industry. But before Semyon had time to join the team, the director went on a business trip abroad, and never returned from there. And since Kukes was hired under the patronage of the leadership, he was suspected by the KGB and from "Titan" he was politely asked. I had to go to graduate school at the Institute of Organoelement Compounds named after Nesmeyanov (INEOS).
The competition in those years was great - 7 people per seat. And it was necessary to get a "5" in the specialty, - Alexander Peregudov, deputy director for science of YNEOS, told the "Interlocutor". - Kukes and I were together on the Komsomol committee. But he excelled more in sports. The sports club of the Academy of Sciences regularly organized chess championships, and Senya also regularly won prizes in them. And in terms of preference, he was a great master.
At one time, the sambist Kukes became interested in karate. There are even legends that once he wanted to apply his knowledge in practice, but ran into an experienced boxer. With all the ensuing consequences. And Semyon Kukes loved to read classics, but he did not shy away from a cheerful company, and he did not go far for friends. At first, he communicated closely with fellow students Andrei Vorobyov, Oleg Pavlov, Volodya Kucherov, and then became friends with the mathematician of YNEOS Semyon Zavelovich.
At the same time, all his acquaintances assure that work was still a priority for Senya. And therefore he successfully defended his thesis three years after entering graduate school (and not after 10-12, as it was in the order of things).
Becoming a junior researcher, Semyon was engaged in the study of free radicals. One of its leaders was Doctor of Science Nikolay Bubnov.
Senya was a capable guy, but he always had an adventurous streak, - Bubnov told me when we talked in his apartment. About thirty years ago, Kukes was also a guest here, and the Bubnovs' little daughter loved to delve into his then lush hair. - I remember, once we went to Akhtuba to fish, to catch crayfish. On the way back at the station, a man on a motorcycle stuck to us: "Buy tomatoes for 3 kopecks." Normal tomatoes are then about 50 kopecks. cost, so Senya was flattered. I got on a motorcycle and drove away, I was almost late for the train. But he brought with him two boxes of crumpled tomatoes that were flowing.
Kukes also has unpleasant memories of those years. One of them is about working at a vegetable warehouse in the Andreevsky ravine.
It happened in the 75th year, - says Evgeny Goryunov, senior researcher at INEOS. - The end of autumn, frosts are about to hit. The last car arrived with cabbage, which needed to be unloaded. Kukes stood behind the trailer, with his back to it, when the driver for some reason began to maneuver. I shouted:
"Senya, behind!" - then I heard a blow and a scream. Senya was saved only by strong hiking boots. Would have been in sneakers - would have remained disabled. And so - a broken leg, plaster cast, temperature. For a whole week they were afraid that his foot would be amputated, but nothing happened.
"I regret divorce all my life"
And then one day, - continues Evgeny Goryunov, - at the beginning of 1977 I come to work, and they say to me: "Senya has left!" "How? - I ask. - Where?" - "To the States!"
At that time a person from the KGB came to the laboratory and asked why Kukes had left. How do we know? - Nikolay Bubnov shrugs his shoulders.
Semyon began to prepare for emigration ahead of time. He received several patents for his inventions, published a number of scientific papers in foreign journals (a phenomenon for that time not frequent), looked at a potential place of work - the RICE University in Houston (they also studied free radicals) and in a short time independently (so as not to attract attention) learned English.
Before leaving, the future millionaire divorced his wife.
Senya knew that I could not go with him. I took care of lonely elderly relatives and could not leave them, - explained Valentina Chukova.
Whether this was the reason for the divorce or something else, she does not want to say, adds only:
When we parted, our friends were shocked. It all happened because of my stupidity, because then we loved each other. And the fact that I took such a step, I regret all my life.
Nothing kept Kukes at home anymore. Together with his friend Semyon Zavelovich, he applied for emigration to the US Embassy and soon ended up in Italy, where there was a transfer camp for those wishing to obtain American citizenship.
However, this camp was not at all "Gulag". This is how another emigrant who went through the “Italian stage” at about the same time describes him: “People received money and could settle wherever they wanted. There was also a school for children, in which volunteers from the same emigrants worked as teachers, a synagogue in which they spoke Russian. There was an amateur cultural life, inexpensive excursions around Rome and all of Italy were organized with Russian-speaking guides, there were nightly discussions ... "
Soon, two Seeds, admiring the Apennine beauty, ended up in the city of Houston, Texas (USA).
Played chess for money in the States
Little is known about Simon Cookes' American period. Mostly from his own words.
I ended up in a very prestigious private university RICE, - he once said in one of his rare interviews. - Once a week, I had to teach, and I seriously prepared, I translated every word with a dictionary. As a result, the guys understood me, but they asked tricky questions - they tested me. Not that I didn’t understand the questions, but I was nervous every time.
In letters to his former colleagues, the emigrant scientist boasted that he had acquired own car, but admitted that there were difficult days. However, the emigrant Kukes overcame financial difficulties easily and in an original way: he played chess for money. He tried to master baseball, but did not win laurels here.
I knew the rules and theory very well, - Kukes recalled.
But when I entered the field to play against an ordinary (not even men's, but women's) team, they hit me in the eye with a ball in the very first minute. For almost a week I walked around with a large "flashlight".
In 1979, Kukes was invited to the position of technical director at the oil company Phillips Petroleum (now one of the ten largest in the world). He moved to Bartolsville, Oklahoma. The town was small
Only 40 thousand inhabitants. The salary also left much to be desired. To save money, Kukes even had to use the car pool system, which means sharing the car:
I shared a car with my subordinates - a technician and an engineer. A day later, I left home for work, picked up one, the second, and then delivered them, although it was very inconvenient ...
In 1986, Kukes decided to end these inconveniences and moved to Chicago, to take the place of technology director of Amoco Oil. His responsibilities included the development of the filling station network. It turned out to be not so easy. For example, fuel sales dropped sharply at one of the Chicago gas stations. Our hero decided to find out why. It turned out that the area was inhabited mainly by Poles, who, refueling, got used to buying chips of a certain brand in a shop at a gas station. But the supply of chips was stopped, and the Poles stopped refueling there. When Kukes ordered the chips to be brought in, everything was fine.
Apparently, for such a "non-American" ingenuity of Simon Gregory, and noted the promotion. In 1995, a connoisseur of Slavic souls became vice president in the Moscow office of Amoco. So Kukes returned to his homeland.
Still swears over prices with traders in the market
Senya all the time wanted to return to Russia - that was the impression that Valentina Chukova got from conversations with her mother-in-law. Kukes herself has not called or written to her since 1976. By the way, Valentina Mikhailovna did not remarry.
Because I have never met such a wonderful person as my first spouse was, ”she explains.
But Semyon Kukes found a soul mate for himself. She was the same emigrant from the Union. There are children, but Kukes rarely sees his relatives, since the family lives in distant New York. The "interlocutor" found out the address of the top manager - 106 Central Park South. This is Manhattan's most prestigious neighborhood, just a short walk from huge Central Park, Broadway and the stunning shops of famous Fifth Avenue.
As Galina Goldberg, our staff correspondent in New York, found out - the cost of an apartment in this house ranges from 3 to 10 million dollars, and getting inside is not so easy: “The concierge, of course, refused me when I asked to go up to apartment 4A. was not on the list of guests and visitors. But one of the doormen was more sociable. He said that Mr. Kukes visits his Manhattan apartment "... very infrequently," adding that the owner is probably not in the country. When asked whether the millionaire's family lives here, the chatty doorman replied with a lengthy "yes and no", suggesting that his wife and children spend most of their time outside the city. "
Kukes seems to have no real estate in Russia. He lives in hotels (he prefers "Slavyanskaya") and in service apartments. Meanwhile, the return of Simon Kukes was almost triumphant.
And this is how it happened. While working for Amoco, Kukes talked a lot with the Russian partner of the American company - NK Yukos. It was on this basis that he got along with the then president of YUKOS, Sergei Muravlenko. As a result, he offered the American a much more tempting salary, and in 1996 Kukes became the first vice-president of Yukos for sales.
"First Love" was short-lived. In early 1998, TNK announced a competition for the vacancy of the company's president, and Kukes left Khodorkovsky for competitors. For five whole years he was in the operational management of Tyumen Oil, but this year, after the merger of TNK with British Petroleum, Robert Dudley became the new head of the combined company, and Kukes was offered only the position of his adviser.
It is not surprising that on June 18, Kukes again deserted to YUKOS (this time he was invited to the board of directors), and on November 4, 2003, he was elected chairman of the board of this company.
At the same time, Semyon Grigorievich is not formally a major shareholder or an oligarch, but a simple hired manager, one of those who live on one salary. However, the salary is such that many have never dreamed of. According to rumors, when Kukes worked for TNK, his annual salary reached one million US dollars, and now, they say, he is already getting an order of magnitude more.
However, the top manager does not surround himself with luxury. In clothes, he prefers modest trousers and a sweater, in communication he is simple and strives to escape from bodyguards. TNK told me a funny story, how Kukes escaped from his security guards in Nizhnevartovsk and had a fight with a trader in the market - she did not want to drop the price. (How can you not remember "tomatoes for three kopecks"!)
Semyon Kukes practices going to the people regularly. Nikolai Bubnov, for example, told how seven years ago Kukes came to his native institute and brought with him a bunch of gifts - American stationery (handbags, pens, notebooks). True, that first visit was also the last. In 1998, the institute held an international conference dedicated to the 90th anniversary of academician Kabachnik. We made a letter to the then President of TNK Kukes with a request for financial assistance, but ...
Probably not, - they sigh at the institute, but they do not lose hope for a new meeting with their famous ex-colleague and are going to invite him in March to the 50th anniversary of INEOS. After all, there is only a good opinion of Kukes at the institute.
And not only there. All his acquaintances, with whom I had a chance to talk, said:
Nice, loyal and hard-working. Great clever girl.
Indeed, the fact that Semyon Kukes is a high-class specialist in his business (whatever he does), no one doubts. But with the words of his ex-wife: "To achieve his own goal, he will not commit a crime" - not everyone agrees.
$ 1.5 million for racketeering
The American Kukes is not a public person, he is quiet, and it is known who is in the still pool. Now the former president of the Tyumen Oil Company is credited with the fact that under him TNK became one of the country's largest oil empires, forgetting that almost every stage of the construction of this empire turned into a major scandal.
When Semyon Kukes was put at the helm of Yukos, all analysts regarded it as a reasonable move by Khodorkovsky. Say, Kukes is a US citizen, and Russian justice cannot reach him. Political scientists did not take into account only one fact - the ground under the feet of Simon Kukes is burning in his second homeland, in the States.
Last year, our company filed a lawsuit in the Federal Court Southern District New York City against a number of structures and individuals (including Simon Kukes), - the president of the Canadian oil corporation Norex Petroleum Phil Murray told the "Interlocutor".
Sergei Sokolov, Norex's attorney in Russia, added to the picture:
In short, the essence of the claims against Mr. Kukes boils down to the fact that he was involved in an "illegal scheme". Together with his co-defendants, Kukes organized a “criminal community” with the help of offshore companies in order to evade paying taxes and dividends to minority shareholders. This is the first thing. Secondly, the TNK headed by him forcibly seized Yugraneft, which was previously controlled by Norex. During this seizure, according to eyewitnesses, Mr. Kukes was personally present.
Norex itself estimates the damage incurred at $ 500 million, but since the charges include racketeering, the amount of the claim under American law automatically tripled. The preliminary debates of lawyers have already taken place, and now the court is deciding whether it is worth considering this case in the United States at all or letting the Russian Themis work.
Simon Cookes' activities are of interest not only to American justice. There is such a law in the States - about free access to information. According to him, you can make an official request to any US government structure with a request to provide information about a particular company or person. In the editorial office of "Interlocutor" there is an answer to such a request about Kukes from the CIA (outgoing number 4864984001).
It is an "unclassified" excerpt from the dossier of the local authorities on Kukes, for some reason dedicated to violations of the law during the bankruptcy of Chernogorneft. There is no new information in the document, but the fact itself is interesting: the "quiet American" is being closely watched. The very first sentence of the excerpt is noteworthy: "TNK President Kukes said that he gave bribes to local authorities."
When he said to whom he said - it is not clear from the CIA's answer. I did not find such statements of Kukes in the open press, which, in principle, is not surprising. Giving a bribe under the laws of any country is a crime, and it is unlikely that Semyon Grigorievich (and even more so Simon Gregory) would publicly flaunt it.
There is another (at first glance fantastic) option where he could have let it slip: in a conversation with a representative of the American special services, or even during recruitment. How close this version is to the truth is not yet clear: most of the CIA dossier on Kukes is marked with a "Secret" stamp. And this secrecy in itself makes you wonder: to whom did Mikhail Khodorkovsky leave the largest oil company in the country?
www.compromat.ru
Kukes Semyon Grigorievich - Former Chairman of the Board of JSC
Born in 1946 in Moscow into a family of employees. Semyon, his brother Vova and sister Mina were brought up by their mother Galina Naumovna. Much later, stepfather Abram Mikhlin appeared in the house.
In 1969 he graduated from the Moscow Institute of Chemical Technology. DI. Mendeleev with a degree in vacuum pump technology.
In 1969-70. worked as a process engineer at the Titan Production Association, where he received his first copyright certificate.
In 1973, at the Institute of Organoelement Compounds. ANNesmeyanova of the USSR Academy of Sciences (INEOS) defended his Ph.D. thesis on the topic "Kinetics of chemical reactions" He worked at INEOS until 1977 as a junior researcher, research worker.
In 1977 he emigrated to the USA, where he was invited to RICE University. For a year and a half, he combined postdoctoral studies, scientific work and teaching at the university. Dr. Simon Gregory Kukes is widely recognized in the United States for his work in catalyst development, refining processes and petrochemicals. He is the author of 130 US patents and over 50 articles. Honorary Professor at Delaware University.
In 1979 he was invited to the position of technical director of the oil company Phillips Petroleum, where he worked until 1986.
From 1986 to 1995, he worked for Amoco Oil, first as Technology Director, then Director of the International Refining, Marketing and Transportation Department.
In 1995 he returned to Moscow. He worked in the Moscow office of Amoco Oil as Vice President for Marketing and Refining.
In 1996-98. - First Vice-President of YUKOS Oil Company for Sales.
Since February 1998 - President of the Tyumen Oil Company. US citizen.
March 2003 - June 2003 - Advisor to the President and Board of TNK-BP
In 2003, at the annual general meeting of shareholders of OAO NK YUKOS, S. Kukes was elected to the board of directors of the company.
Honorary Professor at Delaware University. Dr. Simon Gregory Kukes is widely known in the United States for his work in catalyst development, refining processes and petrochemicals. He is the author of 130 US patents and over 50 articles.
Third-party characteristics
Kukes is too calm and withdrawn to be like a typical American. And besides, it has little in common with Russian businessmen. Unlike most Russian businessmen, he is approachable, modest and polite. One of the obvious successes of Kukes is the transfer of the Samotlor field to the production sharing agreement regime. (Business People magazine, January 5, 2001).
In 1999, he was named one of the top ten managers in Central Europe in 1998 by the Central European Economic Review (published by The Wall Street Journal). He was the only Russian on this list. As the newspaper wrote then, Kukes was singled out for the fact that during the management of TNK he managed to significantly reduce the cost of oil production, increase the load of the subsidiary oil refinery and the number of the company's filling stations.
neftegaz.ru
Semyon Kukes is the President of Yukos Oil Company.
Education
Graduated from Moscow high school with a silver medal.
graduate School
In 1969, he graduated with honors from the Moscow Institute of Chemical Technology. Mendeleev, then worked at the USSR Academy of Sciences.
Academic degrees and titles
In 1973 he defended his Ph.D. thesis on "Kinetics of Chemical Reactions" at the Institute of Organoelement Compounds named after Nesmeyanov.
In 1976 he moved to the United States at the invitation of the RICE University of Houston to write his doctoral dissertation, and successfully defended it.
Honorary Professor at Delaware University.
Dr. Simon Gregory Kukes is widely recognized in the United States for his work in catalyst development, refining processes and petrochemicals. He is the author of 130 US patents and over 50 articles.
The main stages of the biography
1969-1970. - Technological Engineer of Production Association "Titan"
1973-1977 - Junior Researcher, Researcher at the Institute of Organoelement Compounds. A.N. Nesmeyanova of the USSR Academy of Sciences.
1977-1979. - Lecturer at RICE University, was engaged in scientific activities
1979-1986 - Technical Director of Phillips Petroleum
1986-1995 - Technology Director, Director of the International Department for Oil Refining, Marketing and Transport of Amoco Oil
In 1995 he returned to Moscow
1995-1996 - Vice President for Marketing and Oil Refining at the Moscow office of Amoco Oil
1996-1998 - First Vice President of YUKOS Oil Company for Sales
In early 1998, he was appointed first vice president of TNK, and in February 1998, became its president.
On March 20, 2003, he was appointed special advisor to the president and the board of the TNK-BP holding.
June 18, 2003 The annual general meeting of shareholders of OJSC NK YUKOS was held, by decision of which Semyon Kukes was elected to the board of directors of the company.
Third-party assessments, characteristics
Kukes is too calm and withdrawn to be like a typical American. And besides, it has little in common with Russian businessmen. Unlike most Russian businessmen, he is approachable, modest and polite. One of the obvious successes of Kukes is the transfer of the Samotlor field to the production sharing agreement regime. (Business People magazine, January 5, 2001).
Anecdote from "Versia".
It was spawned by last year's tumultuous activity of TNK to pull away SIDANCO. A sad Sir John Brown (president of BP, a foreign shareholder of SIDANCO) walks through the West Siberian tundra after the auction for the sale of Condpetroleum and sees a cuckoo. "Cuckoo, cuckoo, tell me, will I still have Chernogorneft?" Brown asks. And the cuckoo answered him: "Ku-ku, ku-kukes knows him ..." It is not known about the tablets of history, but Semyon Grigorievich has already got into the anecdote, the newspaper notes.
In 1999 he was named one of the top ten managers in Central Europe in 1998 by the Central European Economic Review (The Wall Street Journal). He was the only Russian to be included in this list. As the newspaper wrote then, Kukes was singled out for the fact that during the management of TNK he managed to significantly reduce the cost of oil production, increase the load of the subsidiary oil refinery and the number of the company's gas stations.
Kukes was appointed the head of TNK, according to the estimates of people who knew him, a talented and ambitious manager who sought to get and gain a foothold in the highest echelons of business, the Wall Street Journal noted in February 2000.
The former president of TNK Semyon Kukes, according to experts, received from the employer 1 million dollars a year (Gazeta, September 1, 2003).
Semyon Kukes, President of the Tyumen Oil Company (TNK), has won the Best Managers of the Year competition for the second time, the Kompaniya magazine wrote on October 8, 2001. If last year the active policy of TNK to collect oil assets should be attributed to the laureate's merits, then in 2001 the company developed not only by extensive methods. In addition to deals, the loudest of which was the acquisition of control over the Sidanko oil company, TNK paid significant attention to corporate governance... Interestingly, the center of the company's operational management was moved to Nizhnevartovsk, where TNK's main production facility is located. The president of the company also spends a lot of time there.
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10.08.1999
July 29, 1999, "Rossiyskaya Gazeta" Interview with Semyon Kukes, President of the Tyumen Oil Company: "To live in an oil state, but not to have gasoline ?!"
In his interview, Mr. Kukes discusses the inefficiency of Russians: “Look. What happens in the morning in Moscow and in other cities. Our norm is one person in the car. What does this mean? . how to save it. That it is much lower than the consumer can pay. "
Mr. Kukes recalls that when he lived in America, he had to share a car with his technician and engineer. "A day later, I left home for work, picked up one, the second, and then delivered them, although it was very inconvenient ...".
"SKVAZHINA" offers to support Semyon Grigorievich. For example, in order to save energy, take turns using refrigerators. A week for one, a week for another. At the same time, by the way, they will eat less - you cannot buy an extra piece of sausage, because you understand what it will turn into in a week without a refrigerator ... You can also save the trees that are used to make matches. So that at least ten people would light a cigarette from one match. And so on.
Oleg Roldugin
Seeds Kukes is considered to be a "quiet American": very little is known about him. The official biography on the Yukos website was not without errors. Meanwhile, it would be worth more to know about Kukes, since he is an extraordinary and ambiguous personality. For some, he is a “big smart girl,” while for others, he is a dark horse, a businessman against whom a lawsuit has been filed in the District Court of New York.
With his first wife he lived with his parents
The childhood of Semyon Kukes, or simply Seni, is shrouded in mystery. We can only say with certainty that he was born in Moscow in December 1946 into a family of employees. Senya, his brother Vladimir and sister Mina were brought up by their mother Galina Naumovna. Much later, stepfather Abram Mikhlin appeared in the house.
In the 60s, Mikhlins-Kukes lived at the very beginning of Michurinsky Prospect (now it is almost the center, then it was almost the outskirts).
The mansions were not lordly: two small adjoining rooms and a tiny kitchen, - in a conversation with me, Kukes' first wife Valentina Chukova recalled.
There was no school nearby, so Senya went to comprehend knowledge in several stops. Which, however, did not prevent him from graduating from the tenth grade with a medal and entering the Moscow Institute of Chemical Technology - the same one that Mikhail Khodorkovsky later chose.
The Department of Chemistry and Technology of Crystals of the Engineering Physico-Chemical Faculty of the Moscow Institute of Chemical Technology, where Kukes studied, in those years just ceased to be closed. Therefore, enrolling there and studying was not an easy task. However, Senya coped with both the first and the second tasks perfectly. Literally - graduated from the institute with honors. Excerpt from the characteristics of the graduate of the Moscow Art Institute S.G. Kukesa, which fell into my hands, speaks for itself:
“During his studies, he showed himself to be a capable student, inclined to scientific research. From the first year he studied at the NSO of the institute, was the head of the mathematical circle. He graduated with honors from a two-year German language course. He took an active part in the social life of the institute. He was awarded a certificate of commendation as a trade union organizer of the group. Has a sports category in sambo and chess. "
Sport and brought Senya to his first wife.
I also studied at the Moscow Institute of Chemical Technology, albeit at a different faculty and a year younger. I played volleyball, and he went to the wrestling section. On this basis, and met, - recalls Valentina Chukova. - In February 1970 he defended his diploma, and after that we got married.
According to Chukova, the wedding was modest, they walked with the groom's parents. At first we lived there, but then we moved closer to the center of Moscow, renting a room in Bogoslovsky Lane, near Tverskoy Boulevard.
I was afraid that after working at the vegetable warehouse he would lose his foot
After graduation, Semyon was assigned to a certain production institute "Titan" in Cheryomushki, which wore the laurels of a prestigious "box" where they were engaged in space development and defense industry. But before Semyon had time to join the team, the director went on a business trip abroad, and never returned from there. And since Kukes was hired under the patronage of the leadership, he was suspected by the KGB and from "Titan" he was politely asked. I had to go to graduate school at the Institute of Organoelement Compounds named after Nesmeyanov (INEOS).
The competition in those years was great - 7 people per seat. And it was necessary to get a "5" in the specialty, - Alexander Peregudov, deputy director for science of YNEOS, told the "Interlocutor". - Kukes and I were together on the Komsomol committee. But he excelled more in sports. The sports club of the Academy of Sciences regularly organized chess championships, and Senya also regularly won prizes in them. And in terms of preference, he was a great master.
At one time, the sambist Kukes became interested in karate. There are even legends that once he wanted to apply his knowledge in practice, but ran into an experienced boxer. With all the ensuing consequences. And Semyon Kukes loved to read classics, but he did not shy away from a cheerful company, and he did not go far for friends. At first, he communicated closely with fellow students Andrei Vorobyov, Oleg Pavlov, Volodya Kucherov, and then became friends with the mathematician of YNEOS Semyon Zavelovich.
At the same time, all his acquaintances assure that work was still a priority for Senya. And therefore he successfully defended his thesis three years after entering graduate school (and not after 10-12, as it was in the order of things).
Becoming a junior researcher, Semyon was engaged in the study of free radicals. One of its leaders was Doctor of Science Nikolay Bubnov.
Senya was a capable guy, but he always had an adventurous streak, - Bubnov told me when we talked in his apartment. About thirty years ago, Kukes was also a guest here, and the Bubnovs' little daughter loved to delve into his then lush hair. - I remember, once we went to Akhtuba to fish, to catch crayfish. On the way back at the station, a man on a motorcycle stuck to us: "Buy tomatoes for 3 kopecks." Normal tomatoes are then about 50 kopecks. cost, so Senya was flattered. I got on a motorcycle and drove away, I was almost late for the train. But he brought with him two boxes of crumpled tomatoes that were flowing.
Kukes also has unpleasant memories of those years. One of them is about working at a vegetable warehouse in the Andreevsky ravine.
It happened in the 75th year, - says Evgeny Goryunov, senior researcher at INEOS. - The end of autumn, frosts are about to hit. The last car arrived with cabbage, which needed to be unloaded. Kukes stood behind the trailer, with his back to it, when the driver for some reason began to maneuver. I shouted:
"Senya, behind!" - then I heard a blow and a scream. Senya was saved only by strong hiking boots. Would have been in sneakers - would have remained disabled. And so - a broken leg, plaster cast, temperature. For a whole week they were afraid that his foot would be amputated, but nothing happened.
"I regret divorce all my life"
And then one day, - continues Evgeny Goryunov, - at the beginning of 1977 I come to work, and they say to me: "Senya has left!" "How? - I ask. - Where?" - "To the States!"
At that time a person from the KGB came to the laboratory and asked why Kukes had left. How do we know? - Nikolay Bubnov shrugs his shoulders.
Semyon began to prepare for emigration ahead of time. He received several patents for his inventions, published a number of scientific papers in foreign journals (a phenomenon for that time not frequent), looked at a potential place of work - the RICE University in Houston (they also studied free radicals) and in a short time independently (so as not to attract attention) learned English.
Before leaving, the future millionaire divorced his wife.
Senya knew that I could not go with him. I took care of lonely elderly relatives and could not leave them, - explained Valentina Chukova.
Whether this was the reason for the divorce or something else, she does not want to say, adds only:
When we parted, our friends were shocked. It all happened because of my stupidity, because then we loved each other. And the fact that I took such a step, I regret all my life.
Nothing kept Kukes at home anymore. Together with his friend Semyon Zavelovich, he applied for emigration to the US Embassy and soon ended up in Italy, where there was a transfer camp for those wishing to obtain American citizenship.
However, this camp was not at all "Gulag". This is how another emigrant who went through the “Italian stage” at about the same time describes him: “People received money and could settle wherever they wanted. There was also a school for children, in which volunteers from the same emigrants worked as teachers, a synagogue in which they spoke Russian. There was an amateur cultural life, inexpensive excursions around Rome and all of Italy were organized with Russian-speaking guides, there were nightly discussions ... "
Soon, two Seeds, admiring the Apennine beauty, ended up in the city of Houston, Texas (USA).
Played chess for money in the States
Little is known about Simon Cookes' American period. Mostly from his own words.
I ended up in a very prestigious private university RICE, - he once said in one of his rare interviews. - Once a week, I had to teach, and I seriously prepared, I translated every word with a dictionary. As a result, the guys understood me, but they asked tricky questions - they tested me. Not that I didn’t understand the questions, but I was nervous every time.
In letters to his former colleagues, the émigré scientist boasted that he had got his own car, but admitted that there were some difficult days. However, the emigrant Kukes overcame financial difficulties easily and in an original way: he played chess for money. He tried to master baseball, but did not win laurels here.
I knew the rules and theory very well, - Kukes recalled.
But when I entered the field to play against an ordinary (not even men's, but women's) team, they hit me in the eye with a ball in the very first minute. For almost a week I walked around with a large "flashlight".
In 1979, Kukes was invited to the position of technical director at the oil company Phillips Petroleum (now one of the ten largest in the world). He moved to Bartolsville, Oklahoma. The town was small
Only 40 thousand inhabitants. The salary also left much to be desired. To save money, Kukes even had to use the car pool system, which means sharing the car:
I shared a car with my subordinates - a technician and an engineer. A day later, I left home for work, picked up one, the second, and then delivered them, although it was very inconvenient ...
In 1986, Kukes decided to end these inconveniences and moved to Chicago, to take the place of technology director of Amoco Oil. His responsibilities included the development of the filling station network. It turned out to be not so easy. For example, fuel sales dropped sharply at one of the Chicago gas stations. Our hero decided to find out why. It turned out that the area was inhabited mainly by Poles, who, refueling, got used to buying chips of a certain brand in a shop at a gas station. But the supply of chips was stopped, and the Poles stopped refueling there. When Kukes ordered the chips to be brought in, everything was fine.
Apparently, for such a "non-American" ingenuity of Simon Gregory, and noted the promotion. In 1995, a connoisseur of Slavic souls became vice president in the Moscow office of Amoco. So Kukes returned to his homeland.
Still swears over prices with traders in the market
Senya all the time wanted to return to Russia - that was the impression that Valentina Chukova got from conversations with her mother-in-law. Kukes herself has not called or written to her since 1976. By the way, Valentina Mikhailovna did not remarry.
Because I have never met such a wonderful person as my first spouse was, ”she explains.
But Semyon Kukes found a soul mate for himself. She was the same emigrant from the Union. There are children, but Kukes rarely sees his relatives, since the family lives in distant New York. The "interlocutor" found out the address of the top manager - 106 Central Park South. This is Manhattan's most prestigious neighborhood, just a short walk from huge Central Park, Broadway and the stunning shops of famous Fifth Avenue.
As Galina Goldberg, our staff correspondent in New York, found out - the cost of an apartment in this house ranges from 3 to 10 million dollars, and getting inside is not so easy: “The concierge, of course, refused me when I asked to go up to apartment 4A. was not on the list of guests and visitors. But one of the doormen was more sociable. He said that Mr. Kukes visits his Manhattan apartment "... very infrequently," adding that the owner is probably not in the country. When asked whether the millionaire's family lives here, the chatty doorman replied with a lengthy "yes and no", suggesting that his wife and children spend most of their time outside the city. "
Kukes seems to have no real estate in Russia. He lives in hotels (he prefers "Slavyanskaya") and in service apartments. Meanwhile, the return of Simon Kukes was almost triumphant.
And this is how it happened. While working for Amoco, Kukes talked a lot with the Russian partner of the American company - NK Yukos. It was on this basis that he got along with the then president of YUKOS, Sergei Muravlenko. As a result, he offered the American a much more tempting salary, and in 1996 Kukes became the first vice president of Yukos for sales.
"First Love" was short-lived. In early 1998, TNK announced a competition for the vacancy of the company's president, and Kukes left Khodorkovsky for competitors. For five whole years he was in the operational management of Tyumen Oil, but this year, after the merger of TNK with British Petroleum, Robert Dudley became the new head of the combined company, and Kukes was offered only the position of his adviser.
It is not surprising that on June 18, Kukes again deserted to YUKOS (this time he was invited to the board of directors), and on November 4, 2003, he was elected chairman of the board of this company.
At the same time, Semyon Grigorievich is not formally a major shareholder or an oligarch, but a simple hired manager, one of those who live on one salary. However, the salary is such that many have never dreamed of. According to rumors, when Kukes worked for TNK, his annual salary reached one million US dollars, and now, they say, he is already getting an order of magnitude more.
However, the top manager does not surround himself with luxury. In clothes, he prefers modest trousers and a sweater, in communication he is simple and strives to escape from bodyguards. TNK told me a funny story, how Kukes escaped from his security guards in Nizhnevartovsk and had a fight with a trader in the market - she did not want to drop the price. (How can you not remember "tomatoes for three kopecks"!)
Semyon Kukes practices going to the people regularly. Nikolai Bubnov, for example, told how seven years ago Kukes came to his native institute and brought with him a bunch of gifts - American stationery (handbags, pens, notebooks). True, that first visit was also the last. In 1998, the institute held an international conference dedicated to the 90th anniversary of academician Kabachnik. We made a letter to the then President of TNK Kukes with a request for financial assistance, but ...
Probably not, - they sigh at the institute, but they do not lose hope for a new meeting with their famous ex-colleague and are going to invite him in March to the 50th anniversary of INEOS. After all, there is only a good opinion of Kukes at the institute.
And not only there. All his acquaintances, with whom I had a chance to talk, said:
Nice, loyal and hard-working. Great clever girl.
Indeed, the fact that Semyon Kukes is a high-class specialist in his business (whatever he does), no one doubts. But with the words of his ex-wife: "To achieve his own goal, he will not commit a crime" - not everyone agrees.
$ 1.5 million for racketeering
The American Kukes is not a public person, he is quiet, and it is known who is in the still pool. Now the former president of the Tyumen Oil Company is credited with the fact that under him TNK became one of the country's largest oil empires, forgetting that almost every stage of the construction of this empire turned into a major scandal.
When Semyon Kukes was put at the helm of Yukos, all analysts regarded it as a reasonable move by Khodorkovsky. Say, Kukes is a US citizen, and Russian justice cannot reach him. Political scientists did not take into account only one fact - the ground under the feet of Simon Kukes is burning in his second homeland, in the States.
Last year, our company filed a lawsuit in the Federal Court of the Southern District of New York against a number of structures and persons (including Simon Kukes), ”Phil Murray, President of the Canadian oil corporation Norex Petroleum, told the Interlocutor.
Sergei Sokolov, Norex's attorney in Russia, added to the picture:
In short, the essence of the claims against Mr. Kukes boils down to the fact that he was involved in an "illegal scheme". Together with his co-defendants, Kukes organized a “criminal community” with the help of offshore companies in order to evade paying taxes and dividends to minority shareholders. This is the first thing. Secondly, the TNK headed by him forcibly seized Yugraneft, which was previously controlled by Norex. During this seizure, according to eyewitnesses, Mr. Kukes was personally present.
Norex itself estimates the damage incurred at $ 500 million, but since the charges include racketeering, the amount of the claim under American law automatically tripled. The preliminary debates of lawyers have already taken place, and now the court is deciding whether it is worth considering this case in the United States at all or letting the Russian Themis work.
Simon Cookes' activities are of interest not only to American justice. There is such a law in the States - on free access to information. According to him, you can make an official request to any US government structure with a request to provide information about a particular company or person. In the editorial office of "Interlocutor" there is an answer to such a request about Kukes from the CIA (outgoing number 4864984001).
It is an "unclassified" excerpt from the dossier of the local authorities on Kukes, for some reason dedicated to violations of the law during the bankruptcy of Chernogorneft. There is no new information in the document, but the fact itself is interesting: the "quiet American" is being closely watched. The very first sentence of the excerpt is noteworthy: "TNK President Kukes said that he gave bribes to local authorities."
When he said to whom he said - it is not clear from the CIA's answer. I did not find such statements of Kukes in the open press, which, in principle, is not surprising. Giving a bribe under the laws of any country is a crime, and it is unlikely that Semyon Grigorievich (and even more so Simon Gregory) would publicly flaunt it.
There is another (at first glance fantastic) option where he could have let it slip: in a conversation with a representative of the American special services, or even during recruitment. How close this version is to the truth is not yet clear: most of the CIA dossier on Kukes is marked with a "Secret" stamp. And this secrecy in itself makes you wonder: to whom did Mikhail Khodorkovsky leave the largest oil company in the country?
President of OJSC NK YUKOS.
Education
Graduated from Moscow high school with a silver medal.
graduate School
In 1969, he graduated with honors from the Moscow Institute of Chemical Technology. Mendeleev, then worked at the USSR Academy of Sciences.
Academic degrees and titles
In 1973 he defended his Ph.D. thesis on "Kinetics of Chemical Reactions" at the Institute of Organoelement Compounds named after Nesmeyanov.
In 1976 he moved to the United States at the invitation of the RICE University of Houston to write his doctoral dissertation, and successfully defended it.
Honorary Professor at Delaware University.
Dr. Simon Gregory Kukes is widely recognized in the United States for his work in catalyst development, refining processes and petrochemicals. He is the author of 130 US patents and over 50 articles.
The main stages of the biography
1969-1970. - Technological Engineer of Production Association "Titan"
1973-1977 - Junior Researcher, Researcher at the Institute of Organoelement Compounds. A.N. Nesmeyanova of the USSR Academy of Sciences.
1977-1979. - Lecturer at RICE University, was engaged in scientific activities
1979-1986 - Technical Director of Phillips Petroleum
1986-1995 - Technology Director, Director of the International Department for Oil Refining, Marketing and Transport of Amoco Oil
In 1995 he returned to Moscow
1995-1996 - Vice President for Marketing and Oil Refining at the Moscow office of Amoco Oil
1996-1998 - First Vice President of YUKOS Oil Company for Sales
In early 1998, he was appointed first vice president of TNK, and in February 1998, became its president.
On March 20, 2003, he was appointed special advisor to the president and the board of the TNK-BP holding.
June 18, 2003 The annual general meeting of shareholders of OJSC NK YUKOS was held, by decision of which Semyon Kukes was elected to the board of directors of the company.
Third-party assessments, characteristics
Kukes is too calm and withdrawn to be like a typical American. And besides, it has little in common with Russian businessmen. Unlike most Russian businessmen, he is approachable, modest and polite. One of the obvious successes of Kukes is the transfer of the Samotlor field to the production sharing agreement regime. (Business People magazine, January 5, 2001).
Anecdote from "Versia".
It was spawned by last year's tumultuous activity of TNK to pull away SIDANCO. A sad Sir John Brown (president of BP, a foreign shareholder of SIDANCO) walks through the West Siberian tundra after the auction for the sale of Condpetroleum and sees a cuckoo. "Cuckoo, cuckoo, tell me, will I still have Chernogorneft?" Brown asks. And the cuckoo answered him: "Ku-ku, ku-kukes knows him ..." It is not known about the tablets of history, but Semyon Grigorievich has already got into the anecdote, the newspaper notes.
In 1999 he was named one of the top ten managers in Central Europe in 1998 by the Central European Economic Review (The Wall Street Journal). He was the only Russian to be included in this list. As the newspaper wrote then, Kukes was singled out for the fact that during the management of TNK he managed to significantly reduce the cost of oil production, increase the load of the subsidiary oil refinery and the number of the company's gas stations.
Kukes was appointed the head of TNK, according to the estimates of people who knew him, a talented and ambitious manager who sought to get and gain a foothold in the highest echelons of business, the Wall Street Journal noted in February 2000.
The former president of TNK Semyon Kukes, according to experts, received from the employer 1 million dollars a year (Gazeta, September 1, 2003).
Semyon Kukes, President of the Tyumen Oil Company (TNK), has won the Best Managers of the Year competition for the second time, the Kompaniya magazine wrote on October 8, 2001. If last year the active policy of TNK to collect oil assets should be attributed to the laureate's merits, then in 2001 the company developed not only by extensive methods. In addition to deals, the most high-profile of which was the acquisition of control over the oil company Sidanko, TNK paid significant attention to corporate governance. Interestingly, the center of the company's operational management was moved to Nizhnevartovsk, where TNK's main production facility is located. The president of the company also spends a lot of time there.
All observers note that Semyon Kukes has a unique experience for the domestic oil industry, combining considerable experience in Western oil companies and successful work in executive positions in Russian companies in the fuel and energy sector.
Based on a survey of experts, the Washington Profile agency has compiled a list of the most influential immigrants from the former USSR and Russia in the United States. An impromptu jury, which included scientists, teachers, journalists, experts professionally studying the culture, economics, history and politics of our country, was offered to choose 10 from the initial list, which included 50 names.The most influential were selected according to the following criteria: the degree of influence in professional fields - in science, painting, literature, the degree of popularity among ordinary Americans, the level of influence in politics or economics.
So, the top ten most-most included:
1. Mikhail Baryshnikov - ballet dancer, choreographer, actor;
2. Anna Kournikova - tennis player and fashion model;
3. Dmitry Simes - President of the Nixon Research Center;
4. Leon Aron - Director of Russian Studies, Institute for American Entrepreneurship;
5. Nikolay Zlobin - Director of Russian and Asian Programs of the Center for Defense Information;
6. Elena Bonner - human rights activist, widow of A.D. Sakharov;
7. Yuri Temirkanov - conductor of the Baltimore Symphony Orchestra;
8. Semyon Kukes - businessman, head of the YUKOS company;
9. Ariel Cohen - Lead Research Fellow at the Heritage Foundation;
10. Edward Lozansky - publisher and lobbyist, president of the American University in Moscow.
Only the lazy does not know Baryshnikov and Kournikova. The merits of the former are obvious, and the latter are somewhat dubious, but still they are heard not only in America, but also in their historical homeland. Elena Bonner is also more than well-known in Russia. We know a little less about the rest of the persons involved in the list, except, perhaps, Semyon Kukes, who took the honorable eighth place.
After the scandalous arrest of Khodorkovsky and the man we call Semyon Grigorievich, and in the States - Simon Gregory, the head of the largest oil company in Russia, everyone learned the name of Kukes, although we still know little about him, except for dry facts from the official biography. The weekly Sobesednik tried to eliminate the "blank spots" in the biography of an American Russian (or a Russian American?).
So, the new head of Yukos received American citizenship 30 years ago. And Senya Kukes was born in December 1946 in a family of employees. The boy and his brother were raised by their mother. The Kukesov family lived on Michurinsky Prospekt, by the standards of that time - on the outskirts of Moscow.
Semyon graduated from school with a medal and entered the Moscow Institute of Chemical Technology. Mendeleev - Mikhail Khodorkovsky began to study there a little later. Kukes graduated from the institute with honors.
Around the same time, he married for the first time - to a girl who studied a course younger. At first, the young lived with the Kukes family, and then rented a room in the center of the capital.
After working for some time at the production institute "Titan" in Cheryomushki, Semyon entered the postgraduate course of the Institute of Organoelement Compounds. Nesmeyanov. As a student and then a graduate student, Kukes was fond of wrestling, chess and preference and, according to people who knew him at that time, had an adventurous streak.
Quite unexpectedly for most of his acquaintances, Semyon left for the States. He quietly published several scientific articles in Western publications, patented his inventions (by that time Kukes had become a research assistant in a laboratory that studied free radicals), looked for a place of work - RICE University in Houston, learned English and presented everyone with a fact. The wife could not go with Semyon, and therefore (or perhaps for a completely different reason) they parted.
“It was boring in Russia then. I wanted to do business, but it was forbidden. To make a career, you had to be a member of the Communist Party. I was far from politics,” the businessman himself says.
In the United States, Kukes, as planned, took a job at a prestigious private university, and then took the position of CTO at the oil company Phillips Petroleum. He later moved to a similar position at Amoco Oil and soon became vice president of its Moscow office. Then he returned to Russia. By that time, Semyon Grigorievich was already married for the second time - to an emigrant from the USSR. The businessman rarely sees his family (he has children) - his relatives stayed in New York.
In 1996, Kukes became the first vice-president of Yukos for sales, but soon he was lured away by competitors from TNK. After the merger of the Tyumen Oil Company with British Petroleum, Semyon Grigorievich had to take a position in NK, which did not suit him well, and he returned to Yukos, where he immediately joined the Board of Directors, and on November 4, 2003, was elected Chairman of the Board of the company.
Kukes is not a major shareholder, he has practically no property left in the United States, but as a hired manager he receives a fabulous salary. In Russia, everything is relatively well for him so far (at least better than that of Khodorkovsky), but in America the CIA is interested in the activities of the Russian. It is not known exactly what claims the special services have against the businessman - most of the dossier on him is kept under the heading "secret". According to the "Interlocutor", he is suspected of giving bribes to local authorities.
Born in 1946 in Moscow into a family of employees. Semyon, his brother Vova and sister Mina were brought up by their mother Galina Naumovna. Much later, stepfather Abram Mikhlin appeared in the house.
In 1969 he graduated from the Moscow Institute of Chemical Technology. DI. Mendeleev with a degree in vacuum pump technology.
In 1969-70. worked as a process engineer at the Titan Production Association, where he received his first copyright certificate.
In 1973, at the Institute of Organoelement Compounds. ANNesmeyanova of the USSR Academy of Sciences (INEOS) defended his Ph.D. thesis on the topic "Kinetics of chemical reactions" He worked at INEOS until 1977 as a junior researcher, research worker.
In 1977 he emigrated to the USA, where he was invited to RICE University. For a year and a half, he combined postdoctoral studies, scientific work and teaching at the university. Dr. Simon Gregory Kukes is widely known in the United States for his work in catalyst development, refining processes and petrochemicals. He is the author of 130 US patents and over 50 articles. Honorary Professor at Delaware University.
In 1979 he was invited to the position of technical director of the oil company Phillips Petroleum, where he worked until 1986.
From 1986 to 1995, he worked for Amoco Oil, first as Technology Director, then Director of the International Refining, Marketing and Transportation Department.
In 1995 he returned to Moscow. He worked in the Moscow office of Amoco Oil as Vice President for Marketing and Refining.
In 1996-98. - First Vice-President of YUKOS Oil Company for Sales.
Since February 1998 - President of the Tyumen Oil Company. US citizen.
March 2003 - June 2003 - Advisor to the President and Board of TNK-BP
In 2003, at the annual general meeting of shareholders of OAO NK YUKOS, S. Kukes was elected to the board of directors of the company.
Honorary Professor at Delaware University. Dr. Simon Gregory Kukes is widely known in the United States for his work in catalyst development, refining processes and petrochemicals. He is the author of 130 US patents and over 50 articles.
Third-party characteristics
Kukes is too calm and withdrawn to be like a typical American. And besides, it has little in common with Russian businessmen. Unlike most Russian businessmen, he is approachable, modest and polite. One of the obvious successes of Kukes is the transfer of the Samotlor field to the production sharing agreement regime. (Business People magazine, January 5, 2001).
In 1999, he was named one of the top ten managers in Central Europe in 1998 by the Central European Economic Review (published by The Wall Street Journal). He was the only Russian on this list. As the newspaper wrote then, Kukes was singled out for the fact that during the management of TNK he managed to significantly reduce the cost of oil production, increase the load of the subsidiary oil refinery and the number of the company's filling stations.