That is especially so when combined with the production cash flow that should began to grow again in early 2011 when BlueberryHill is expected to come online.
Mr Putin, who has sung the old American pop sing BlueberryHill for charity, appeared to snub one of Russia's best-known rock musicians, Yury Shevchuk, at a round-table discussion last year.
Either way it is particularly disappointing when you drill a dry hole such as happened to the partners in the BlueberryHill side-track well (EXXI was not among them), which found nothing and required a write-down in the quarter, surely a factor in the price drop of the stock.