A Board of Directors’ meeting is underway at Gazprom’s Headquarters.

The Board heard a report on the work being done by Gazprom to expand direct sales of natural gas to European customers.

Reference:

Gazprom (via its wholly owned subsidiary Gazexport) is the world’s largest natural gas exporter covering 21 countries in Central and Western Europe. At present Russia supplies 25% and 40% of European gas consumption and imports, respectively.

Gazprom’s export strategy includes utilizing at best the opportunities provided for suppliers by the liberalization of the European gas market, developing new ways and methods of natural gas trading as well as accessing end-users.

A vivid example of Gazprom’s success in implementing its export strategy over the past years is the WINGAS joint venture (created in 1990 and co-owned with BASF), which is the fourth-largest gas seller in Germany. Another example is the British-based wholly owned subsidiary Gazprom Marketing and Trading, which has all the opportunities for gas supply to end customers.

While implementing an export strategy targeted at expanding gas sales to European consumers Gazprom strives to be involved in the entire value adding chain (when in talks with a whole range of traditional partners over long-term contract extensions) including transport capacities and sales to end-users.

With a goal to solidify its positions on European natural gas markets and to enhance supply reliability and flexibility, Gazprom is resolute to participate in expanding underground gas storage capacities in Europe. In order to successfully move to various energy consumption sectors, the Company considers it expedient to acquire shareholding of the companies specializing in gas and electricity sales to a broad end-customer base.