He was notable, in particular, for doing nothing to bring to heel the country's huge natural-gas monopoly, Gazprom, the company he used to run (see article).

ECONOMIST: Collapse in Russia | The

First, many transporters enjoy a natural or state-granted monopoly and need to be restrained from exercising it with too much abandon.

ECONOMIST: Economics focus

Group-buying is not a natural monopoly, yet there is a limit to how many group-buying websites consumers will use.

FORBES: Online Group Buying's Need For Speed

Moves by the Kremlin to nationalize the country's energy sector by pressuring a Royal Dutch Shell-led consortium to relinquish control of the Sahalin-2 natural gas project to Russia's state-controlled monopoly Gazprom, and Putin's meetings with Arab leaders last month to explore the creation of a "natural gas cartel" demonstrate an authoritarian view of energy management that is undeniably confrontational.

CENTERFORSECURITYPOLICY: Energy Squeeze

Further complicating matters, Shell was also negotiating to trade half of its 55% stake in Sakhalin II with state-owned gas monopoly Gazprom for half of a giant natural gas field called Zapolyarnoye.

FORBES: Shell Shocked

The railway involves a natural monopoly: the only other way of getting to the ruins is a four-day hike along the Inca Trail.

ECONOMIST: The battle to reach Machu Picchu

Turkmenistan produces roughly 70 billion cubic metres of natural gas each year and about two-thirds of its exports go to Russia's Gazprom gas monopoly.

BBC: Turkmenistan profile