Famous for
Founder of the Energia fund, which invests in the real sectors of the Russian and European economies. Served on the boards of major Russian energy corporations. Former Minister of Energy of the Russian Federation.
Assets
Through the Energia investment fund, he owned mining enterprises in different regions of Russia. For example, Yusufov owned:
- 49% of shares in the oil production company Yargeo. Revenue for the year 2022 was 78.91 billion rubles (about $1.16 billion);
- Gold mining company Zolotorudnaya Kompaniya;
- Oil and gas production company Novaya Rudnaya;
- Novokhim chemical company;
- Novoenergo mining company.
In 2022, Yusufov’s press service announced that he no longer owned the assets he had previously reported. To whom his assets have been sold or reassigned was not revealed.
According to Project Media, in 2022 Yusufov bought the 74-metre yacht Universe, which has been used by former Russian President Dmitry Medvedev, for $100m (about 6.8 billion rubles).
Interests and hobbies
Yusufov’s stated favourite hobby is raising his children. For example, his eldest son Vitaly attended meetings of oil company boards of directors with his father when the latter was Energy Minister.
Professional history
Born on 12 June 1956 in Derbent, Dagestan ASSR. After school he worked as a lathe operator at a military defence factory.
In 1979 he graduated from the Novocherkassk Polytechnic Institute. During his studies he was a member of communist organizations and then worked as an engineer at the Mosenergo energy company.
Between 1984 and 1987 he worked as a senior expert at the Havana Thermal Power Plant in Cuba, which was being built with Soviet assistance.
In 1991 he obtained a second degree, in economics.
In 1993 he was appointed Deputy Minister of Foreign Economic Relations of Russia.
Until 1996 he headed a subsidiary of the state corporation Rosvooruzhenie, which supplied military equipment to third world countries.
In 1995 he was on the list of candidates for the State Duma of the Russian Federation, but his political bloc failed to pass the electoral threshold.
In 1996 he was appointed Deputy Minister of Industry of Russia.
Between 1997 and 2001 he was a member of the management of Goskomreserv (later Rosreserv). The state organization was responsible for maintaining strategic reserves in case of war or natural disasters.
In 2001, he was appointed Minister of Energy of the Russian Federation.
Prior to 2004, while serving as minister, he was a member of the board of directors of major oil and energy companies including RAO UES of Russia, Transneft, Rosneft, Transnefteproduct and Gazprom. He held his position at Gazprom until 2013.
Between 2004 and 2011, he held the positions of Special Presidential Representative for International Energy Cooperation and Ambassador-at-Large of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs.
In 2011, he established the Energia foundation to invest in Russian and European mining and energy projects.
Yusufov has been under personal sanctions imposed by Ukraine since 2022.
In the same year, the businessman’s press service reported that he no longer owned the assets he had previously declared.
In 2023, Yusufov’s Energia fund came under blocking sanctions imposed by the US Treasury Department.
Deals and ventures
- In 2011, Yusufov’s fund bought Nefte Petroleum, which owns 49% of the Yargeo oil production company. The value of the deal was not disclosed. In 2015, the stake was estimated at $1.2 billion (about 61.2 billion rubles).
- In 2012, Yusufov’s Novoenergo acquired the rights to develop the Karasevsky hydrocarbon block in the Yamalo-Nenets Autonomous District for 1.92 billion rubles (about $61.9 million).
- In 2014, Yusufov’s Novoenergo, together with Andrey Melnichenko’s EuroChem, paid more than 1.3 billion rubles (approximately $34.2 million) as a deposit to participate in an auction for the right to use the Verkhnekamsk potassium-magnesium salt deposit in the Perm Territory.
- About 900 million rubles ($16 million) was paid in 2018 by Zolotorudnaya Kompaniya (ZRK) and Yusufov’s Novaya Rudnaya company for a dozen gold and polymetallic sites in Khabarovsk Territory, Magadan Region and the Republic of Sakha (Yakutia).
Achievements
- Recipient of the Order of Merit to the Fatherland, IV class.
- In 2002, he was recognized as Minister of the Year at the Russian National Olympus awards.
Criticism and disputes
- In 2009, Yusufov was named as one of those involved in the accident at the Sayano-Shushenskaya hydroelectric power station, which killed 75 people. Yusufov “did not create mechanisms for real state control and supervision over the safe operation of energy facilities”, according to the Investigative Committee’s findings.
- Former Bank of Moscow President Andrey Borodin, who faces persecution in Russia and has been granted political asylum in Britain, has criticised Yusufov. Borodin claimed that Yusufov put pressure on him in 2011 – allegedly on the orders of Dmitry Medvedev – in an attempt to establish state control over the bank. Subsequently, Yusufov’s son Vitaly acquired a 20% stake in the bank from Borodin. This stake was later purchased by the state-owned VTB Bank.
- In 2014, Yusufov had a business conflict with Leonid Mikhelson and Gennady Timchenko’s Novatek. The entrepreneurs jointly owned the company Yargeo. Representatives of Novatek appealed to the Arbitration Court and, according to their allegations, Yusufov stopped financing the joint project and prevented other shareholders from raising funds. In 2015, the parties signed a settlement agreement and Yusufov agreed to continue funding the project.
Attitudes to Russian–Ukrainian conflict
He has not spoken out publicly.
Community work
Igor Yusufov was the driving force behind two energy summits, in Houston in 2002 and in Saint Petersburg in 2004. At these summits, representatives from the US and Russia discussed efforts to make the global energy market more stable.
Additional information
Married, two kids.
Source for information: Forbes.com, Forbes.ru, Interfax.ru, Lenta.ru, Kommersant.ru, Rbc.ru
