The sale of Oman’s seven per cent share in Caspian Pipeline Consortium to Russia was facilitated by a low profile Malta based, British businessman with close connections to the Kremlin

At the beginning of this month, Transneft announced the purchase of Oman Oil’s seven per cent share in the Caspian Pipeline Consortium.

This deal, worth an estimated $710 million, had been in the pipeline for nearly two years with neither party able to arrive at a mutually acceptable figure.

In October 2008, the President of Kalmykia, Kirsan Illyumzhinov, was drafted in by the Kremlin to break the impasse.

Oil Intelligence said last week it understands that he then turned to his trusted adviser and business partner Shiv Shankaran Nair, a Malta based British businessman with interests in oil and gas, shipping and contracting.

Nair made several trips to Oman, where he has close links with Alawi Zawawi, the son of former Prime Minister Quais Zawawi; he is also the nephew of Dr Omar Zawawi, adviser to the Sultan.

The results of these trips are not known, but suddenly on 6 November, Transneft announced that a deal had indeed been signed.