In the course of preparations for the Company's annual General Shareholders' Meeting, Gazprom's delegation met today the Company's shareholders living in the town of Novy Urengoi.

Organized by Urengoigazprom's top management, the meeting was attended by over 500 people, including Olga Pavlova, Gazprom's Management Committee Member and Head of the Company's Asset Management and Corporate Relations Department, Nikolai Tucha, Urengoigazprom's Deputy Director General, Marina Tikhomirova, Head of the Depositary Technologies Division of Gazprombank's Depositary Center, Vladimir Kolesov, Head of Gazprombank's Depositary Operations Section and representatives of Gazprom and the Horizon Investment Company's core business departments.

In delivering her report, Olga Pavlova informed the meeting of the major corporate operating results for 2003 and pointed out that Gazprom had recorded the best achievements since the Company's foundation. O. Pavlova stressed that the corporate paramount objective was capitalization growth being, undoubtedly, spurred by Gazprom's restructuring that envisaged considerable optimization of core business management structure and aimed at Gazprom's accessing the top 10 world's leading energy companies.

Olga Pavlova also took shareholders' questions related, in particular, to Gazprom's reforming, non-core asset divestiture, transfres of utilities, social and cultural facilities under the municipal ownership, prospects of the Company's share ratings growth and corporate development trends and strategic priorities.

During the trip to Novy Urengoi, Olga Pavlova met Viktor Kazarin, the town's Mayor. The meeting raised a range of issues related to handing over corporate housing assets to Novy Urengoi's authorities and emphasized that concrete terms and conditions of the transaction would become subject of negotiations and consultations to be held between Gazprom's executive leadership and Novy Urengoi's authorities.

Within the visit, Gazprom's delegation gave a press conference attended by Olga Pavlova and Nikolai Tucha. In responding to reporters' questions, Olga Pavlova particularly underlined that to dispose of its non-core assets, the Company would implement a differentiated approach, meaning that decisions on each facility would be taken separately, taking into account its social significance, economic profitability and availability of alternative facilities within the existing infrastructure of this or that region.

Reference:

As of 28 May 2004, there were 11,208 Gazprom's shareholders residing in Novy Urengoi, owning some 160 million corporate shares.

Urengoigazprom is one of Gazprom's largest gas production subsidiaries. In 2003, the company produced over 152 bcm of natural gas (101.6% up on the target), 3.7 million tons of gas condensate (111%) and some 500 thousand tons of oil (104%).

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