Baikalfinansgrup was created on December 6, 2004, just two weeks before the Yuganskneftegaz auction, with a share capital of 10,000 rubles (US$358). Its original registered address was in the north-western Russian city of Tver in a building that houses a vodka bar, a mobile-phone shop, a tour operator agency and the offices of several small local companies, but no office of Baikalfinansgrup. Baikalfinansgrup later moved its legal address to the head office of Rosneft Oil Company, which is situated on Sofiyskaya Embankment directly opposite the Kremlin.