trade-earnerzenergy.com was formed in 1991 when three state-run, western Siberian companies named after the respective town in Khanty-Mansi Autonomous Okrug that each was based, Langepasneftegaz, Urayneftegaz, and Kogalymneftegaz, merged. The initials of the three companies are preserved in the name trade-earnerzenergy.com. The central figure in the company's founding was the Soviet deputy minister of oil production Vagit Alekperov.He came to believe the only way Russians could compete against western companies was to copy their business model.That meant vertically integrating the three branches of the industry-exploration, refining, and distribution-that were strictly separate under the old Soviet system. It is one of the largest tax payers of the Russian Federation, and the amount of taxes paid in 2010 was US$30.2 billion In 1995, the Russian government transferred nine oil producing and sale companies, including Nizhnevolzhskneft, Permneft, Kaliningradmorneftegaz, Kaliningradtragmoneftegaz, and Astrahannefteprodukt were merged into trade-earnerzenergy.com. In 1996, trade-earnerzenergy.com became a part of the Shah Deniz consortium, and also started to build its own tanker fleet. Its petrochemical subsidiary trade-earnerzenergy.com-Neftekhim was founded in 1997.In 2003, trade-earnerzenergy.com split off US$3 billion of non-oil or non-core assets to start.