Forty-one year old Roman Abramovich figures on the Forbes 2007 list as the sixteenth richest man in the world with a net worth of $18.7 billion. A college dropout he made his fortune in the Russian oil industry. He has a knack of making newspaper headlines, be it because of his controversial business deals, or for his buyout of English soccer club Chelsea, which he turned around into one of the most successful soccer teams in the world.
He is once again in the news for placing an order for the world's largest drill for almost $160 million. According to news reports, Abramovich, who heads Russian firm Infrastruktura, is planning to build an undersea tunnel, linking Russia and America, under the 58 mile wide Bering Strait. The projecct is estimated to take ten years to complete.
The 62.3 foot wide drill will be built in two years by the German engineering firm Herrenknecht. Apart from this tunnel it will also be used to build infrastructure in Russia. This drill is much wider than the 49 fot drill used by the Chinese to build a tunnel under the Yangtze river.
The tunnel will connect Russia's Chukotka region where Abramovich is also governor, with Alaska in the US. It will have the capacity of allowing transport of some 100 million tons of freight annually, as well as oil, gas and electricity from Siberia to North America. If the project goes through it will be the longest undersea tunnel in the world. Presently the distinction is held by the 30 mile long Channel Tunnel that links Britain and France. This tunnel had cost $9.5 billion to build and is yet to make a profit!