MOSCOW (Reuters) – Fund managers are keeping their cool in the face of Russian political risk as western oil majors come under pressure and state control of business grows.<\/p>\n
Concern over Anglo-Dutch oil giant Royal Dutch Shell’s Sakhalin-2 energy deal was high on Britain’s diplomatic agenda this week when its Foreign Secretary Margaret Beckett challenged her Russian counterpart Sergei Lavrov in New York.<\/p>\n
But investors enjoying double-digit returns from Russia’s oil-fuelled boom say they are not surprised by the risks to Sakhalin, Russia’s largest foreign investment, where Shell is building the world’s biggest plant to liquefy gas.<\/p>\n
“We are seeing the Russification of the strategic energy assets. This is going to continue until it is finished,” said Martin Taylor, hedge fund manager at London’s Thames River capital with $8.5 billion (4.5 billion pounds) of assets under management.<\/a><\/p>\n