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Curzon
Author

Curzon

Date

June 26th, 2009

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Could they not have chosen a better name?

Russia’s energy giant Gazprom has signed a $2.5bn (£1.53bn) deal with Nigeria’s state operated oil company NNPC, to invest in a new joint venture.

The new firm, to be called Nigaz, is set to build refineries, pipelines and gas power stations in Nigeria.

Let the jokes begin…

Comments to this entry

Younghusband
June 26, 2009
12:24 am
They should call their customer site MyNigaz. (h/t TonyTouch)
Alfred Russel Wallace
June 26, 2009
1:51 am
Shades of ConRail!!
Alesander Luken
June 26, 2009
1:53 am
So I gues Nigaz would lay the pipe?
spandrell
June 26, 2009
3:15 am
hey you can't ask every country over the world to avoid offending your underclass.
Erik van Luxzenburg
June 26, 2009
7:42 am
Well, one can't deny the Russians got humor! Or has Gazprom been trapped in a Nigerian scam?

I like Nigaz to work for me and supply us with their energy!
Beauty
June 29, 2009
6:01 pm
"Let the jokes begin…"

Oh, how I wish the jokes were funny enough for the 70% of 140Million Nigerians living below the poverty line. Investing in state sponsored joint ventures with Nigeria has meant huge sums of money ending up in someone else's freezer. At least we got to hear about the cronyism and corruption involving the former US Vice President that used to run Halliburton. Siemens of Germany and others are examples of the scams, but this Gazprom Nigaz business will probably take the biscuit.
Bob Harrison
June 30, 2009
6:45 pm
"What on earth does Russia want with West Africa?" was my first reaction to this. Knowing that West Africa is the potential source of Europe's non-Russian hydrocarbons, are the Russians trying to grab as much of it as possible if only to deny Europe easy access.
...hasn't anyone else heard anyone mispronounce the name of the country of "Niger" before? It can be quite embarrassing, remember the G is silent.
e
July 1, 2009
8:17 am
Russians are obssesed with frankenstein compounds for names of companies or institutions, no matter how tragically they may sound.
Like Supervision of Communications and the Mass Media is called Rossvyazkomnadzor.