ARETI International Group of Companies is a private energy company headquartered in Geneva, Switzerland. ARETI was created by Igor Makarov in 2015 following his sale of Itera International Group of Companies, which was started in 1992 and sold off in 2013. The ARETI group company consists of holding companies registered in Cyprus, Virgin Islands, and the Netherlands and has subsidiaries involved in the energy industry, civil and industrial engineering, and finance.^[2][3][4] The company operates primarily in Switzerland^[1] and the Commonwealth of Independent States (CIS) countries. In 2013, its main subsidiary, Itera Oil & Gas Company, was acquired by Rosneft prior to any sanctions placed on Rosneft.^[5][6]

This article relies excessively on references to primary sources. (July 2012)

A firm which later became a part of the Itera Group was established in 1992 as a basic commodities trading company.^[2][7][8] Established in 1992, the Itera International Energy Corporation headquarters in Jacksonville, Florida kept Makarov's wealth beyond the political and financial turmoil of Russia and the former Soviet states.^{[2][8][9][10]}

In 1994, it obtained the rights to sell Turkmeni natural gas as payment for its sugar transaction and started implementing gas-related projects within its subsidiary Itera Oil & Gas Company, LLC.^[8] In 1995, Itera began selling Turkmeni gas to Ukraine, Belarus, Moldova, and Georgia, as well as to the Baltic States over Gazprom pipelines in exchange for hard cash, sugar, meat, and cereals to Russia.^[9][11]

Registered in Wilmington, Delaware in May 1996, Itera International Energy LLS governed gas supplies and financial statements.^[2]

Registered in Riga, Latvia in November 1996, ITERA Latvia or ITERA Latvija, which was headed by Juris Savitskis, governed gas supplies, pipelines and underground storage in Latvia and Estonia where it held a large stakes in both the Latvian gas company Latvijas Gaas or Latvijas Gāze and the Estonian gas company Eesti Gaas. Mr. Makarov exited the investment in 2013 when Itera Oil & Gas Company was sold off and has no relationship to ITERA Latvija since.

In 1998, Itera launched production of natural gas in Yamalo-Nenets Autonomous Okrug in Western Siberia. It was the first private company to put gas fields into operation in the Far North of Russia: the Gubkinskoye gas field with reserves of 399 billion cubic metres (14.1 trillion cubic feet) in 1999; the Vostochno-Tarkosalinskoye field with reserves of 407 billion cubic metres (14.4 trillion cubic feet) in 2001; and the Beregovoye field with reserves of 325 billion cubic metres (11.5 trillion cubic feet) in 2003.

Due to enormous reserves, Makarov's Itera was the fourth largest natural gas company in the world in 2000.^[12]

In 2002, there was an agreement to merge the newly created gas company Novatek with Itera, but the deal was cancelled.

After the 5 December 2002 establishment of Eural Trans Gas, Itera was no longer the dominant natural gas provider to Ukraine.^[13]

In 2010, India-based Sun Group sold its 26% stake in Itera Holdings back to Itera Group.^[14] In 2011, TNK-BP planned to acquire a 50% stake in Itera.^[15] This transaction failed.^[16] In 2012, Rosneft announced a plan to acquire up to 51% in Itera Oil & Gas.^[17] In 2013, Rosneft acquired the remaining 49% in Itera Oil & Gas. Following the complete sale of Itera Oil & Gas, Makarov was subject to a non-compete clause in the Russian energy sector.^[5][6]

By mid-2015, Makarov had restructured and consolidated his remaining companies under ARETI International Group (ARETI IG). Today, ARETI IG is composed of subsidiaries and affiliated companies with business interests in the United States, Canada, Turkmenistan, Western Europe and in the Middle East. ARETI IG has offices located in Switzerland (Geneva), Cyprus (Limassol), Turkmenistan (Ashgabat), Canada (Calgary) and the United States (Jacksonville).

According to Bloomberg BusinessWeek, in the late 1990s, the Russian state-controlled company Gazprom conducted dubious transactions with Itera and a Gazprom/Itera joint-venture, Purgaz. Billions of dollars of Russian natural gas resources were transferred from Gazprom to Itera for artificially low prices, then sold to the markets by Itera, allegedly profiting Gazprom managers who were also beneficiaries of Itera. In 2002, Bill Browder, manager of the Hermitage Capital Management investment fund, accused Itera and Gazprom of colluding to depress natural gas prices and also stock prices in a scheme that PricewaterhouseCoopers (PwC), which had been the in house auditor for Gazprom since 1996, could not uncover after PwC had produced dangerously lax audits of Gazprom.^[39] In February 2002, Boris Fyodorov, as an independent director of Gazprom, stated that PricewaterhouseCoopers (PwC) signed off on poorly performed audits of natural gas firm interactions such as Gazprom-Itera because PwC wanted to keep the account with Gazprom adding "If an auditor knows it cannot do a proper review, then it is just doing it for the money." Further, he said that any audits by Deloitte & Touche into the Gazprom-Itera interactions were strongly opposed by Gazprom management.^[39] Despite the allegations, PricewaterhouseCoopers (PwC) defended the audit reports and the Moscow Arbitration Court threw out all five suits filled by Bill Browder against Gazprom in June 2002. "A Moscow Arbitration Court judge has thrown out five lawsuits that minority shareholder activist William Browder filed against Big Four auditing firm PricewaterhouseCoopers. We hope we’re at the end of it, these decisions are pretty definitive." said PwC managing partner Richard Buski.^[40]

In March 2002, the U.S. Trade and Development Agency cancelled a $868,000 grant to Itera as questions were raised about its legitimacy. In May, Representative Curt Weldon led a congressional delegation to Russia and visited Itera. After his return, he publicly supported Itera's efforts. In the beginning of September 2002, Itera paid the expenses for Weldon to travel to New York City. The following week, Itera told Karen Weldon, the congressman's daughter, that it would sign a public relations contract for $500,000-a-year with her newly formed lobbying firm, Solutions North America, Inc. (SNA) which was signed on 30 September 2002. On 24 September 2002, Curt Weldon co-hosted an event at the Library of Congress honoring Itera's chairman. On 26 September, Weldon gave a floor speech praising Itera. On 30 September, SNA received a $500,000 annual contract with Itera, with $170,000 up front. In November 2002, Itera paid for Karen Weldon to join Rep. Weldon on a trip to Eastern Europe and Russia. In January 2003, Itera opened its newly expanded U.S. offices at Jacksonville, Florida, and paid for Rep. Weldon to attend the opening.^[41] Investigations have found no wrongdoing by Itera or any of its associates.