Vagit Alekperov

Vagit Alekperov
Alekperov in 2013
Vagit Alekperov
Born	1 9, 1950
Birthplace	Baku, Azerbaijan SSR, Soviet Union
Nationality	Azerbaijani
Occupation	Businessman, oil executive
Known for	Co-founder and former president of Lukoil
Spouse(s)	Larisa Victorovna Alekperova
Children	1

Vagit Yusufovich Alekperov (Template:Lang-az; Template:Lang-ru; born 1 September 1950) is a Russian businessman of Azerbaijani origin who co-founded and served as president of Lukoil, Russia's second-largest oil company, from 1993 until 2022. Born in Baku during the Soviet era, Alekperov rose from an oil worker in the Caspian fields to become one of the most prominent figures in the global energy industry. His career trajectory — from the oil rigs of Soviet Azerbaijan through the turbulent privatization era of the 1990s to the helm of one of Russia's largest publicly traded corporations — mirrors the broader transformation of Russia's energy sector from state control to market capitalism. Following Russia's invasion of Ukraine in 2022, Alekperov stepped down as Lukoil's president and has since faced sanctions from the United Kingdom, Canada, Australia, and New Zealand. Despite these restrictions, he has continued to engage in international energy diplomacy, meeting with heads of state including Kazakhstan's President Kassym-Jomart Tokayev in 2025. As of 2025, United States sanctions imposed on Lukoil have further complicated the company's international operations, raising questions about the future of the enterprise Alekperov built over three decades.

Early Life

Vagit Alekperov was born on 1 September 1950 in Baku, the capital of the Azerbaijan SSR, then part of the Soviet Union. Baku had long been one of the world's most important centers of petroleum production, with the oil industry deeply embedded in the city's economic and cultural identity since the late nineteenth century. Alekperov grew up in this environment, and the oil industry shaped his career from an early age.

His father, Yusuf Alekperov, was an oil worker, and the family's connection to the petroleum sector predated Vagit's birth. Growing up in a city dominated by oil derricks and refineries, Alekperov developed an early familiarity with the industry that would define his professional life. As a young man, he entered the oil workforce directly, beginning at the lowest levels of the production hierarchy in the Caspian Sea oil fields. He worked as a roughneck and laborer on offshore drilling platforms, gaining hands-on experience in the physically demanding work of oil extraction.

This period of manual labor in the oil fields provided Alekperov with a practical understanding of petroleum production that would later distinguish him from many of Russia's post-Soviet business elite, who often came from financial, academic, or political backgrounds rather than from industry itself. His rise through the ranks of the Soviet oil establishment was steady, progressing from worker to engineer to management positions over the course of the 1970s and 1980s.

Education

Alekperov pursued his higher education at the Azerbaijan State Oil and Industry University (then known as the Azerbaijan Institute of Oil and Chemistry), one of the Soviet Union's premier institutions for petroleum engineering and related disciplines. The university, founded in 1920, had a long tradition of training engineers for the Caspian oil fields and the broader Soviet petroleum industry. Alekperov graduated with a degree in oil and gas engineering, providing him with the technical foundation to complement the practical experience he had already accumulated in the oil fields.

His formal education equipped him with knowledge of petroleum geology, drilling technology, and production management — skills that proved essential as he advanced through the hierarchy of Soviet oil production enterprises. The combination of his field experience and academic training positioned Alekperov as both a technically competent engineer and a practical operator, a profile that facilitated his ascent within the rigidly structured Soviet industrial system.

Career

Soviet-Era Career

After completing his education, Alekperov continued to advance within the Soviet oil industry. During the 1970s and 1980s, he held increasingly senior positions in oil production organizations in the Caspian region and later in Western Siberia, where the Soviet Union was developing some of its most productive oil fields. Western Siberia was the primary engine of Soviet oil production during this period, and assignments there placed Alekperov at the center of the country's most strategically important energy operations.

By the late 1980s, Alekperov had risen to the level of deputy minister of oil and gas in the Soviet government, one of the most senior positions in the Soviet petroleum establishment. This role gave him direct oversight of significant portions of the Soviet Union's oil production apparatus and placed him in a position to observe — and ultimately shape — the restructuring of the industry that accompanied the Soviet Union's dissolution.

During his time as deputy minister, Alekperov developed the concept that would ultimately become Lukoil. He proposed creating a vertically integrated oil company modeled on Western oil majors, combining exploration, production, refining, and distribution under a single corporate umbrella. This represented a departure from the Soviet model, in which these functions were managed by separate state enterprises. The idea reflected Alekperov's exposure to international oil industry practices and his conviction that integrated companies could operate more efficiently and competitively than the fragmented Soviet model allowed.

Founding and Leadership of Lukoil

Lukoil was formally established in 1991, initially as a state-owned concern that brought together three West Siberian oil-producing enterprises: Langepasneftegaz, Urayneftegaz, and Kogalymneftegaz. The company's name was derived from the first letters of these three entities — L, U, and K — combined with "oil." Alekperov was the driving force behind the company's creation and became its president.

The early 1990s were a period of enormous upheaval in the Russian economy. Following the collapse of the Soviet Union in 1991, Russia embarked on a rapid and often chaotic program of privatization. Lukoil was among the first major Russian enterprises to undergo this process. Through a combination of voucher privatization and subsequent share transactions, Lukoil transitioned from state ownership to a publicly traded corporation. Alekperov emerged from this process as the company's largest individual shareholder and its unquestioned leader.

Under Alekperov's presidency, which formally began in 1993 and lasted until 2022, Lukoil grew from a collection of West Siberian production assets into one of the world's largest privately held oil companies. The company expanded both domestically and internationally, acquiring refining capacity, building a retail gasoline station network, and securing exploration and production rights in countries across the Middle East, Africa, and the Americas.

Alekperov's management style was characterized by journalists and analysts as notably low-key compared to other Russian oligarchs of his generation. Peter Maass, writing a profile of Alekperov, described him as a "quiet tycoon" who preferred to avoid the public confrontations and political machinations that marked the careers of figures such as Boris Berezovsky and Mikhail Khodorkovsky. This approach may have contributed to Alekperov's longevity at the helm of Lukoil at a time when other Russian business leaders faced exile, imprisonment, or loss of their enterprises.

During the 2000s, Lukoil expanded its international footprint significantly. The company established operations in Iraq, where it secured rights to develop the West Qurna oil field, one of the world's largest undeveloped petroleum reserves. Lukoil also expanded into retail fuel distribution in the United States and Europe, acquiring gasoline station networks and establishing the Lukoil brand in consumer markets far from its Russian base.

Alekperov's relationship with Leonid Fedun, who served as Lukoil's vice president, was central to the company's management structure for decades. The two men also shared business interests outside of Lukoil, including ownership stakes in IFD Kapital, a financial holding company. Alekperov and Fedun also both held ownership stakes in the football club Spartak Moscow, with Alekperov previously holding a 36.8% stake in the club.

Departure from Lukoil

In 2022, following Russia's invasion of Ukraine, Alekperov resigned as president of Lukoil. The departure came amid mounting international pressure on Russian businesses and their leaders. Lukoil's board of directors had issued an unusual public statement calling for an end to the conflict — a rare instance of a major Russian corporation publicly diverging from the Kremlin's position.

Despite stepping down from his formal leadership role, Alekperov retained a significant shareholding in Lukoil and continued to be identified by international media and governments as a key figure associated with the company. In 2025, news agencies including Xinhua described Alekperov as the "founder" of Lukoil, while Qazinform identified him as a "shareholder."

Impact of International Sanctions

Following Russia's invasion of Ukraine in February 2022, Alekperov became subject to sanctions imposed by the United Kingdom, Canada, Australia, and New Zealand as part of broader international governmental responses to the conflict. These sanctions typically involved asset freezes and travel bans.

In October 2025, the United States imposed a new round of sanctions directly targeting Lukoil, creating significant disruption to the company's international operations. According to reporting by TVP World, these sanctions left Alekperov "watching his oil empire unravel," as the measures forced the company to reconsider its international portfolio of assets and partnerships. Upstream Online reported that the sanctions left Lukoil with "less than one month to formulate and deploy" responses regarding its international portfolio.

The Financial Times reported in November 2025 that the U.S. had moved to block a potential deal between oil trader Gunvor and Lukoil, describing the situation as a "crisis" for the company and raising the prospect of a potential takeover of Lukoil assets by state-owned Rosneft.

In November 2025, Iraqi Prime Minister Mohammed Shia al-Sudani met with Alekperov to discuss ways of resolving disruptions to Iraq's oil production caused by the U.S. sanctions on Lukoil, which had significant operations in the country's southern oil fields. The Jamestown Foundation also noted Lukoil's expanding presence in Turkey's energy market, adding another dimension to the company's complex international position amid the sanctions regime.

Other Business Interests

Beyond Lukoil, Alekperov has held a range of business interests. He owned the Dutch superyacht builder Heesen Yachts until 2022, when the company was divested in the wake of the sanctions regime. A 2025 article by DMARGE described Alekperov's collection of superyachts, noting his ownership of multiple luxury vessels.

Alekperov and his associate Leonid Fedun held shared interests in financial services through IFD Kapital, as reported by Bloomberg in 2006.

Personal Life

Alekperov is married to Larisa Victorovna Alekperova. The couple has one child.

Despite being one of Russia's wealthiest individuals, Alekperov has maintained a relatively low public profile compared to other Russian oligarchs. Peter Maass characterized him as preferring quiet, behind-the-scenes management to the flamboyant public personas adopted by some of his contemporaries.

Alekperov has been involved in philanthropic activities, particularly in regions where Lukoil operates. The Moscow Times reported in 2012 that Alekperov's social enterprise investments had totaled $48 million over a five-year period. Lukoil under Alekperov's leadership also made charitable contributions in the Komi Republic, including deliveries of medical equipment to hospitals in Usinsk. During the COVID-19 pandemic, Alekperov donated 50 million rubles of his personal finances to combat the coronavirus in the Republic of Komi.

Alekperov has maintained ties to his native Azerbaijan. Azernews reported on his connections to the country, reflecting his continued identification with his Azerbaijani heritage alongside his Russian citizenship.

Legacy

Vagit Alekperov's primary legacy is the creation and development of Lukoil into one of the world's largest oil companies. Starting from the concept of a vertically integrated oil enterprise — novel in the context of the collapsing Soviet planned economy — Alekperov built an organization that at its peak operated across dozens of countries and ranked among the top privately held oil producers globally.

His career represents a distinctive path among Russia's post-Soviet business elite. Unlike many of the oligarchs who emerged from the privatization era of the 1990s, Alekperov came from within the oil industry itself, having spent decades working his way up from the drilling platforms of the Caspian Sea. This background gave him a technical and operational grounding that differentiated him from businessmen whose wealth derived primarily from financial maneuvering or political connections.

The post-2022 period has cast uncertainty over Alekperov's legacy and Lukoil's future. The international sanctions regime has constrained the company's ability to maintain its international operations, and the Financial Times' reporting on a potential Rosneft takeover of Lukoil assets raised the prospect that the company Alekperov built could ultimately be absorbed into Russia's state-controlled energy sector — a development that would represent a reversal of the privatization process through which Lukoil was created.

Alekperov's continued engagement in energy diplomacy — including his 2025 meetings with the leaders of Iraq and Kazakhstan — suggests that he retains significant influence in the global energy sector, even after his formal departure from Lukoil's presidency.