Brussels, the capital of the European Union hosted today the opening ceremony of Gazprom's representative office in the Kingdom of Belgium.

Taking part in the opening ceremony were Alexander Medvedev, Deputy Chairman of the Gazprom Management Committee, Anatoly Yanovsky, Deputy Energy Minister of the Russian Federation, Alexander Romanov, Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary of the Russian Federation to the Kingdom of Belgium, Vladimir Chizhov, Permanent Representative of the Russian Federation to the European Union, Gunter Oettinger, European Commissioner for Energy, the representatives of Belgian executive and legislative bodies, including Melchior Wathelet, State Secretary for Environment, Energy, Mobility and Institutional Reforms as well as Members of the European Parliament and heads of European oil and gas companies.

“As a global energy Company, Gazprom has a vast network of international representative offices and aims to build up its presence both in existing and prospective markets. For over 40 years Europe has been the Company's major export market. Gazprom supplies natural gas to 20 European countries and invests billions of euros in major trans-European infrastructure projects. Today we are engaged in an active dialogue with the EU bodies and the opening of Gazprom's representative office in the EU capital will make it more efficient,” said Alexander Medvedev.

Background

Nowadays, Gazprom has representative offices in seven FSU countries (Belarus, Kazakhstan, Kirgizia, Latvia, Moldova, Turkmenistan and Ukraine) and in five countries beyond the FSU (Algeria, Brazil, China, Iran and Qatar).

Belgiumdoesn't produce natural gas and has no proven gas reserves. According to 2012 results, Belgium consumed 16.9 billion cubic meters of imported natural gas.