The 57-year-old Russian says that “his interest in life was reborn” after his nomination to the top post in Bashneft in September 2009.
Bashneft is one of the oldest Russian oil producers, with its first field — Ishimbayskoye — discovered in June 1932. Oil production in Bashkiria peaked at 956,000 barrels per day in 1967 and has been in decline since then, falling to 235,000 bpd in 2008.
However,
