It was not clear whether Maganov’s death was an accident, a suicide, or something more serious.
Conflicting theories immediately surfaced in the Russian media, with TASS citing an unnamed law enforcement source as saying Maganov was taking antidepressants and killed himself.
Baza, an online outlet with links to the police, reported that the oil executive may have slipped while smoking on the balcony.
Lukoil confirmed Maganov’s death but only said that he “died of a severe illness”.
“Ravel Maganov made a significant contribution to the development of not only the company, but also to the development of the entire Russian oil and gas sector,” the company said in a statement posted on its website. . “
Maganov’s unexplained downfall is at least the sixth fatal accident this year involving two high-profile Russian oil and gas executives whose lives ended in bloody or mysterious circumstances.
In April, the body of Sergei Protosinya, the former top manager of gas giant Novatek, was found in a Spanish villa along with the body of his wife and their 18-year-old daughter.
The Spanish news agency Telecinco reported that the police found the mother and daughter in separate rooms with stab wounds. Protocinia was found in the yard, where he reportedly hanged himself.
Spanish media at the time reported that murder and suicide were the main theory of the Catalan police in their investigation.
But Novatek seemed to doubt that Protosinia might be responsible for the deaths of his wife and daughter. The company said he “has established himself as an outstanding person and a wonderful family man”. in the current situation. “Unfortunately, there have been speculations in the media about this, but we are convinced that these speculations have nothing to do with reality.”
Similarly, the former vice president of Gazprombank, Vladislav Avaev, was found dead in April along with his wife and daughter in their apartment in Moscow.
A month later, Alexander Sobotin, a former Lukoil magnate, died of heart failure in the Moscow region after receiving homeopathic treatment from a shaman, who offered his clients injections of frog poison.
Lukoil made headlines in March as the only Russian oil producer to call for an end to the war in Ukraine. in the current situation Issued a few days after the invasion on February 24, Lukoil “expressed concern about the tragic events taking place in Ukraine” and called for an “immediate cessation of armed conflict”.
Lukoil CEO Vagit Alekperov resigned in late April after being sanctioned by Western countries. Maganov has served as Lukoil’s Senior Executive Vice President since 1994 and was appointed in 2020 to lead its board of directors. His brother, Neil Maganov, is the CEO of another large oil and gas company, Tatneft.