The company is Russia’s second-largest gas producer after state-controlled Gazprom, which declined to exercise its option to extend its sponsorship deal with the RFU in December 2012. The R-Sport news agency said the RFU’s new deal with Novatek is worth around US$8 million, adding the deal will greatly enhance the financial fortunes of the governing body. Although the RFU is believed to have significantly reduced the $25 million worth of debt that had accumulated under previous leader Sergei Fursenko, incumbent chief Nikolai Tolstykh had been seeking a financial backer to avoid regressing back to that level.