Russian Billionaire Vagit Alekperov resigned as CEO of Lukoil

On Thursday the Russian billionaire Vagit Alekperov has resigned as CEO of the second-largest oil company in Russia,  Lukoil. Mr. Alekperov announced this the United Kingdom sanctioned him under claims that he "continues to support the Government of Russia" by serving as a director within Russia’s energy sector. Alekperov is one of the Russian business leaders that have left their companies after the invasion of Ukraine. Forbes estimated the net worth of Alekperov at $18.6 billion. He began his oil career as a rig worker in the Caspian Sea. According to the Lukoil website by the year 1990, Alkeperov was the Soviet Union's deputy minister of the oil and gas industry.

According to his bio on Forbes, after the collapse of the USSR in 1991, Alekperov converted three government-owned oil fields into Lukoil.  On the Bloomberg Billionaire Index, Alekperov is currently ranked as Russia's eighth-richest person. The Russian Billionaire had until escaped from personal sanctions. In the year 2004 he was featured in New York Times Magazine titled "The Triumph of the Quiet Tycoon," Alekperov is described as a man whose "unimpressiveness is calculated" and "behaves as if his greatest wish is to be ignored by the public."