The Board of Directors’ meeting is in progress at the Gazprom Headquarters.

The Board of Directors approved the work done by Gazprom in the Central Asian petroleum market, including for the purpose of securing the long-term and large-scale presence of natural gas from this region in the Russian energy balance.

The Management Committee was entrusted with informing the Board of Directors of the progress and interim results of the Company’s performance in the Central Asian petroleum market in the 4th quarter 2009.

Background:

Gazprom’s participation in Central Asian projects enables:
- to retain and increase the share of Russian natural gas in the conventional European market;
- to adequately respond to higher demand in the CIS countries;
- to diversify Gazprom’s export portfolio in terms of sales geography;
- to minimize an investment burden on the Company;
- to streamline gas flows in the Unified Gas Supply System along with simultaneously raising the economic efficiency of export operations.