Ex-Minister of Fuel and Energy of Russia
Biography
Yuri Konstantinovich Shafranik is a native Siberian. He was born on February 27, 1952, in Karasul, Tyumen Region, Russia.
Mr Shafranik graduated from two faculties of the Tyumen Industrial University with a degree of Electrical Engineer in Automation and Telemechanics and a degree of Mining Engineer in Technology and Mechanics of Oil and Gas Field Development. He became a Doctor of Economics (2006).
Since 1974, Mr Shafranik worked as a technician at the enterprises of the oil production association Nizhnevartovskneftegaz, then he was promoted to positions of technological engineer, senior engineer and head of the laboratory.
In 1980, from the first days of the construction of the new Uryev oil field, he worked at Uryevneft in the town of Langepas of Nizhnevartovsk District. From 1987 to 1990, Mr Shafranik was General Director of the production association Langepasneftegaz, which was established by him. On April 14, 1990, he was elected to the position of the Chairman of the Tyumen Regional Council of People's Deputies.
In September 1991, Yuri Shafranik was appointed the Governor of the Tyumen Region by Decree of the President of the Russian Federation, so becoming the youngest head of the region in the country at the time. At that period, the Tyumen Region emerged as the flagship of all innovations in the field of subsoil use in Russia.
In January 1993, Yuri Shafranik became the Minister of Fuel and Energy of the Russian Federation. He organised and actively participated in restructuring the oil, coal and electric power industries, transitioning them to market-based economics. Mr Shafranik was one of the initiators and developers of the law "On Subsoil".
In August 1996 Yuri Shafranik worked as an advisor to the Chairman of the Government of the Russian Federation.
In May of that year, he was elected to the Board of Directors of OJSC Tyumen Oil Company, and in August became its Chairman. In 1997, he created and headed Central Fuel Company, which in a short time took a leading position in the Moscow regional wholesale market of petroleum products.
In September 2001, Yuri Shafranik founded the international group SNG focused primarily at development of oil and gas projects world-wide in partnership with other Russian, western or local institutional investors. All commercial projects initiated and managed by Yuri Shafranik were financed exclusively by raising funds from foreign institutional and private investors. SNG’s strategy was based on the early stage entrance to new emerging projects and their development ensuring stable growth. A number of successful projects in energy industry initiated by Yuri Shafranik have been internationally recognised, such as First Calgary Petroleums (FCP), UzPEC Limited and Emerald Energy plc. These projects were implemented through a series of mergers and acquisitions involving such Russian and international petroleum majors as Italian Eni SpA, Russian Lukoil and Chinese petrochemical giant Sinochem. Since 2019 Yuri Shafranik has focused his efforts on activities outside the SNG group which completed its active investment phase.
Nowadays, Yuri Shafranik is a chairman of a number of non-commercial public non-state organisations: Supreme Mining Council, Union of Oil and Gas Producers of Russia; Committee of the Chamber of Commerce and Industry of the Russian Federation on Energy Strategy and Development of Fuel and Energy; Board of Directors of the Institute of Energy Strategy. He is also the President of the World Policy and Resources Foundation and Chair of the Russian delegation to the Dartmouth Conference.
Mr Shafranik has received several awards and medals during his lifetime including the Order of Friendship of Peoples (1988), the Order of Honour (2000), and the Order of Alexander Nevsky (2022). He is a two-time Laureate of the Prize of the Government of the Russian Federation (1999 and 2019). Shafranik is an Honoured Worker of the Oil and Gas Industry of the Russian Federation (2010) and Honorary Citizen of the city of Langepas, Khanty-Mansi Autonomous Okrug and of the Tyumen Region.
Married, has an adult son and daughter.