Within the 6th summit of the Valdai International Discussion Club, a delegation of foreign and Russian experts has paid a visit to the Gazprom Headquarters today.

The delegates visited the Central Production and Dispatch Department where they got acquainted with the development history and performance features of the Unified Gas Supply System of Russia.

As part of the visit the Club members met with Alexey Miller, Chairman of the Gazprom Management Committee. Taking part in the meeting were also Sergey Bogdanchikov, President of NK Rosneft, and Viktor Vekselberg, Executive Director of TNK-BP.

The parties discussed the current trends in the global energy market development amidst the financial and economic crisis, as well as the issues of Russian gas supplies to Europe.

Alexey Miller informed the Valdai Club members on the key provisions of the Company’s strategy and the status of its major projects.

“My opinion is that Gazprom has bright prospects. I will name several factors that give us a clear insight into the future state of the energy market. According to the United Nations, by 2025 the Earth’s population will rise by 25 per cent and reach 8.5 billion. As you know, the main contributors are likely to be China, India, Brazil, and Indonesia. These are the countries with intensively developing economies accompanied by the rapid processes of industrialization, urbanization and growing energy consumption per capita. As for the European Union, natural gas production in Europe by that time will drop approximately by 30 per cent, while gas consumption rates will keep increasing.

Actually, these are only forecasts, but I hope you will agree that the trend is absolutely clear. Therefore, we are optimistic about the future. Gazprom has become a global company and a leader on the global energy market. I think Gazprom will further reinforce its stance in the mid- and long-term,” stated Alexey Miller.

“We have been supplying natural gas to Europe for more than 40 years now. Gazprom is known as a reliable supplier, which always meets its obligations in full and in due time, and we value this reputation. Be sure that we will continue running the business in this manner. This is our credo,” said Alexey Miller summarizing his speech.

Background:

The mission of the Valdai Discussion Club is to create and maintain an international expert venue, where the foreign leading experts studying various aspects of the Russian life may acquire trusted information about the development level of the country and society.

The first summit of the Club was held in September 2004.