“…Thus, a privatization plan was approved in early 1998 to sell a controlling stake in RosnefV to a strategic investor. But this plan, involving an international tender, failed as a result of several problems, most importantly the overall Russian economic crisis that doused any prospects for a sale at a reasonable price (Sagers, 1998). Following this, one plan was to merge RosnefV with several of the smaller, weaker VICs (e.g., SlavnefV, ONAKO) then still largely in government hands, to create an enlarged "national" oil company.…”