Zenit St. Petersburg Secures Lucrative Sponsorship Deal with Oil Giants

Gazprom Neft has struck a $20 million sponsorship deal with Russian Soccer champions Zenit St. Petersburg that sees the football club advertise the oil giant at Russian Premier League matches.

Zenit is owned by the Gazprom Neft’s parent company, Gazprom. The head of the oil subsidiary, Alexander Dyukov, is the club’s president.

The advertising deal runs through the end of the year and is effective for all of Zenit’s domestic league and cup games.

Gazprom Neft earlier this year helped save the FC Tom Tomsk football club from bankruptcy, plowing in $3.25 million in exchange for a 25 percent stake.

The company, known as Sibneft until 2005 when Gazprom bought a 73 percent stake, also sponsors the Avangard Omsk team in the Kontinental Hockey League.

Gazprom Neft, controlled by the Russian government, is the country’s fifth-largest oil producer.