Roman spends $160m on a drill

A man going out to buy a drill is not normally worth a headline - unless the man is Roman Abramovich and the drill costs $160m and is capable of boring a hole 19 metres in diameter. Then everyone wants to know why he'd want such a toy. Reports last week claimed Abramovich intends to dig a tunnel under the Bering Sea to link the eastern Russian province of Chukotka - where the multi-billionaire is governor - with Alaska.

Quite apart from any ambition to improve US-Russian relations, the tunnel would enable Russia to transport freight, oil and gas from Siberia to north
America.

The only problem with this magnificent theory is that a spokesman for Abramovich has claimed categorically that his boss has no ambition to build such a tunnel. But he did not deny that Abramovich's Moscow-based company Infrastruktura had ordered the drill from the German engineering firm Herrenknecht.

It is possible the German magazine Der Spiegel is more on target: they believe the the drill will be used to build tunnels at the Black Sea resort of Sochi where the 2014 Winter Olympics will be held. Experts reckon the owner of such a drill could quickly recoup his outlay by renting it out to road and rail builders.

Abramovich's other big purchase in recent days looks measly by comparison: a £6m luxury ski chalet in Aspen, Colorado.