Gazprom's probable acquisition of Sibneft, Russia's fifth-largest oil company, for about $10 billion, will bring to an end large-scale M&A activity in the country's oil and gas industry.
Domestic and foreign oil majors will instead be forced to concentrate on smaller Russian assets or look farther afield in former Soviet states in the CIS if they want to continue their growth through acquisition.
Lukoil kicked off serious consolidation in the industry in 1999 through its Komitek purchase. TNK and Sibneft's joint acquisition of Slavneft followed in 2003, as did the merger between...
