Alexey Miller, Gazprom’s Management Committee Chairman signed an executive order to set up an East-Oriented Project Management Division within the Company’s Administration.

Victor Timoshilov was named as said Division’s Head.

“Over 2004, Gazprom has done a big scope of fruitful work to establish partnership, mutually beneficial and long-term prospect-oriented relations with Asia Pacific, entering into strategic cooperation agreements with the largest Chinese and Indian oil and gas corporations as well as finalizing the preparation of a program on comprehensive field development in Eastern Siberia and the Far East.

The Asia Pacific region, and China in the 1st place, is experiencing a real fuel boom, with energy consumption growing more intensively than in any other part of the world. Taking this fact into account when developing the Company as a global energy firm, Gazprom’s east-oriented oil and gas strategies have been identified as a top priority business.

In this regards, the newly established Division will be tasked with promoting Gazprom’s projects eastwards,” – maintained Alexey Miller, Gazprom’s Management Committee Chairman.

Reference:

Previously working in Gazpromrazvitiye and Vostokgazprom, Gazprom’s subsidiaries, V.P. Timoshilov has been involved over several years in developing promising hydrocarbon projects in Eastern Siberia, the Far East and Asia Pacific.

Russia’s Energy Strategy to 2020 sets the task of establishing and developing a new large gas production center in Eastern Siberia and the Far East. Pursuant to a resolution of the RF Government, Gazprom has been appointed as coordinator of the Program on gas resource exploitation in Eastern Siberia and the Far East, gas supply network establishment in eastern Russia and provision of an integrated gas export channel to the Asia Pacific region.

Gazprom and CNPC entered into an Agreement on Strategic Cooperation on 14 October 2004, focusing, primarily, on the gas sector.

The Agreement prescribes scrupulous consideration of issues related to Gazprom’s Russian natural gas supplies to CNPC.

At the same time, the Document stipulates interaction in oil and natural gas geological prospecting, production, transmission and marketing projects; Chinese gas transmission and distribution network development, underground gas storage facility construction and operation as well as implementation of other promising projects, in third countries inclusive.

Last year, Gazprom and CNPC signed a Memorandum on Strategic Cooperation Deepening. The Memorandum specifies a closer relationship between the companies in the oil sector as well as China’s involvement in oil recovery projects in Russia.

Gazprom and Gas Authority of India Ltd. (GAIL) entered into an Agreement on Strategic Cooperation on 3 December 2004. Gazprom and GAIL will be mainly focused on studying and implementing projects on natural gas deliveries to India as well as on launching joint operations at Block 26 in the Bengal Bay. In addition, the Agreement emphasizes cooperation between the companies in the oil sector.

On 4 December 2004, Gazprom and ONGC Group, the largest Indian company as for its proved reserves and hydrocarbon production amount, initialed a Memorandum of Intentions outlining potential cooperation in oil and gas field exploration and development, in the Sakhalin Island offshore inclusive, as well as possible joint projects aimed at developing deep hydrocarbon processing capacities and delivering said output to India and Asia Pacific.

DIVISION OF RELATIONS WITH MASS MEDIA