Good Call [Option] for "Gazik"

So it would look like Kremlin increasing Western presence and further legitimizing its destruction of Yukos, but if you read the terms carefully and sum it all up Gazprom is actually getting paid to hold a very lucrative call option, that can ultimately increase both its global and local reach. I never said Putin was a dummy!

clipped from online.wsj.com The joint $5.8 billion purchase by Italian oil giant Eni SpA and utility Enel SpA of assets once belonging to Russia's bankrupt OAO Yukos shows how hungry Western energy companies are for greater access to the country's vast oil and gas resources. The two Italian firms on Wednesday became the first foreigners to directly acquire assets through the controversial auction of Yukos However, as part of the deal, Russia's gas monopoly OAO Gazprom has an option to purchase 51% of most of these same assets within the next two years Should Gazprom exercise the call option, according to the statement, the assets will be operated through a joint venture between Eni and Gazprom. Gazprom also has an option to buy the companies' 20% stake in Gazprom Neft, Russia's fifth-largest oil company, in the next three years. Eni and Enel's participation in the deal also helps Moscow legitimize an auction process that was widely criticized as being part of the government's aggressive policy