Gazprom's new joint venture in Africa has raised more than a few eyebrows with a choice of name that sounds uncomfortably like a racial slur, just days ahead of US President Barack Obama's first visit to Moscow.
Nigaz, formed following a $2.5 billion deal between the Russian gas behemoth and Nigeria's National Petroleum Company, has already prompted a rash of jokes on the Internet.
The spelling is even similar to that of US hip hop group Niggaz With Attitude, who are largely credited with starting the gangsta rap music genre.
No one from Gazprom was immediately available for comment on the joint venture.
For US firms, dealing with this company could be an extra burden due to the particular resonance of the word's historical connection with slavery. However, in Russian it has a similar pronunciation but very few of the negative connotations associated with it in other countries.
President Dmitry Medvedev, who is due to meet with Obama in Moscow during the US president's visit to Moscow on July 6-8, oversaw the creation of the Nigaz joint venture in Nigeria earlier this week.
Despite the apparent lack of PR savvy from one of the world's largest companies and a country with a long history of slavery, it is not the first major company to make a naming howler. Powergen's Italian branch named their website powergenitalia.com, while visitors to stationery retailer penisland.net might have got less than they bargained for.
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