John Helmer, who writes on business in Russia in his blog Dances with Bears takes an exhaustive look into a potential coal gas deal in Australia that is on the radar screen of industrialist Roman Abromovich.
- Abramovich
Abromovich is reportedly looking at a company in Australia that used technology developed in the former Soviet Union that converts coal into gas. The Russian industrialist controls Evraz, which owns the Evraz Steel Claymont mill as well as other sites in North America and Russia.
After paying upwards of $600 million for Claymont, Evraz kept the mill running during the economic downturn and into 2012.
It takes a lot of words to describe the complexity of the financial engineering used by Abromovich, who might used dividends generated from Russian mines and mills to finance any deal, without upsetting the Russian government.
It may help that Abromovich is reputed to have close ties with Russian President Vladimir Putin.
Coal gas has not gotten a great deal of attention in recent years in the U.S. as more gas is extracted from shale formations. As Helmer notes, the process has environmental risks and has potential in nations with little natural gas.
Helmer’s post can be hard to follow, but well worth reading in gaining a glimpse into the strategy of the colorful billionaire who owns a fleet of yachts and a British soccer club.
Click on the link below for the full blog post:
