Did TNK-BP make the right decision in selling their service business to an international player like Weatherford?
TNK-BP definitely made the right decision in selling off their service company: by doing this, they received some revenues, and have taken an important step towards diversifying their supplier base. I was one of the few people supporting this idea as long as fifteen years ago, and today companies seem to have finally accepted the merits of this idea. In the end, it was the business logic of diversifying suppliers that convinced the oil and gas players that spinning off their service businesses was the right decision to make. The first of the major companies to adopt this approach was Lukoil. In many regards, Lukoil has been the pioneer in the Russian oil and gas sector. They were the first vertically integrated Russian oil company, the first private company, and the first company to list on the public markets. Lukoil was influenced by the public market, and as a result made a lot of correct decisions, including spinning off their service business. Since 2006, Eurasia Drilling has been
