A Logical Progression

The Economist also sees the logical progression from Yukos to Shell to BP:

The creation of TNK-BP, which had seemed to signal a new dawn for foreign investment in Russia’s oil industry, in fact marked its zenith. Mr Putin first turned on Yukos, a private oil company with many foreign shareholders that was led by Mikhail Khodorkovsky, an uppity tycoon. Mr Khodorkovsky had been in talks with Exxon Mobil and Chevron about a possible sale of a stake. The authorities bankrupted the firm with swingeing tax bills, while Mr Khodorkovsky found himself jailed for fraud. Next, the government turned its sights on Shell, which was developing several oil and gas fields off Sakhalin Island in Russia’s far east. After officials stepped up complaints about environmental breaches, Shell and its partners got the message and sold Gazprom a majority stake in the project.