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Gazprom
Газпром
Company typePublic/Joint stock company (MCX: GAZP MCX: GAZP)
IndustryNatural gas extraction
Founded1989
HeadquartersRussia Moscow, Russia
Key people
Alexei Miller, CEO
ProductsNatural gas
RevenueIncrease Rb 2152 bn (2006, ~US$83.6 bn)
Increase Rb 636 bn (2006, ~US$24.63 bn)
OwnerRussian Government (50.01%)
Number of employees
432,000 (as of 2006)
Websitewww.gazprom.com

OJSC Gazprom, (Russian: Газпром; long version: Открытое Aкционерное Oбщество Газпром; sometimes transcribed as Gasprom)[1] is the largest Russian company. Gazprom is publicly traded as MCX: GAZP MCX: GAZP LSE: OGZD; Russian: ОАО Газпром. Gazprom is the biggest extractor of natural gas in the world. With sales of US$31 billion in 2004, it accounts for about 93 percent of Russian natural gas production; with reserves of 28,800 km³, it controls 16 percent of the world's gas reserves (as of 2004[2], including the Shtokman field.) After acquisition of the oil company Sibneft, Gazprom, with 119 billion barrels (1.89×1010 m3) of reserves, ranks behind only Saudi Arabia, with 263 billion barrels (4.18×1010 m3), and Iran, with 133 billion barrels (2.11×1010 m3), as the world's biggest owner of oil and oil equivalent in natural gas.[3]

By the end of 2004 Gazprom was the sole gas supplier to at least Bosnia-Herzegovina, Estonia, Finland, Macedonia, Latvia, Lithuania, Moldova and Slovakia, and provided 97 percent of Bulgaria's gas, 89 percent of Hungary's, 86 percent of Poland's, nearly three-quarters of the Czech Republic's, 67 percent of Turkey's, 65 percent of Austria's, about 40 percent of Romania's, 36 percent of Germany's, 27 percent of Italy's, and 25 percent of France's.[4][5] The European Union as a whole gets about 25 percent of its gas supplies from this company.[6][7]

Apart from its gas reserves and the world's longest pipeline network (150,000 km), it also controls assets in banking, insurance, media, construction and agriculture.

As measured by its market capitalization as of December 2007 (US$345 billion),[8] Gazprom is the world's third largest corporation following this measure.[9][10] Gazprom chairman Dmitry Medvedev hopes that the company's market capitalization will quadruple to reach one trillion dollars by 2017, and that this would make it the world's biggest corporation.[11]

History

1989-1992: Inception

A separate Soviet gas industry was created in 1943. Due to large natural gas reserves discovered in Siberia, in the Urals and in the Volga region in the 1970s and 1980s, the Soviet Union became a major gas producer. Gas exploration, development, and distribution were centralized in a state ministry.

In July 1989 President Mikhail Gorbachev merged the ministries for oil and gas as part of his economic reforms, into a single industry, the Ministry of the Oil and Gas Industry of the USSR. A separate Soviet gas industry was again created in the early 1990s, before the break up of the USSR. In September 1990 the Gazprom board discussed transforming Gazprom into a joint-stock company. In 1991-92 talks were held between Russia, Ukraine and Belarus over creating a tripartite joint-stock company with all three states holding shares.

However by June 1992 this was abandoned and Gazprom in Russia became a state company. In November 1992 Gazprom became a joint-stock company (Russian: OAO), and it was to be partly privatized as a single unit. This contrasted with the Soviet oil monopoly which was initially broken up into three separate companies before privatization. Gazprom was privatized in 1994, with the state holding 40 percent of all shares. Fifteen percent were to be sold to workers and management at preferential prices. The leadership of Gazprom was able to keep control over privatisation by ensuring that sales of shares took place at closed auctions, which meant that the company could determine who attended the auctions. Viktor Chernomyrdin headed Gazprom.

1993-1997: Privatization

After the new Russian President Boris Yeltsin appointed Chernomyrdin to be his Prime Minister in December 1992, the political influence of Gazprom increased markedly. On January 26, 1993, Rem Viakhirev became the Chairman of both the Board of Director and Managing Committee.

As the new government was committed to economic reform, Gazprom began to be privatized, becoming a joint-stock company according to the Decree of the President of the Russian Federation of November 51992 and the Resolution of the Council of Ministers of the Russian Federation of February 171993, and starting to distribute shares under the voucher method, where every Russian citizen received vouchers to purchase shares of formerly state-owned companies. However, trading these shares was heavily regulated, and the by-laws of the company prohibited foreigners to own more than 9 percent of the shares.

Gazprom slowly established credibility in the western capital markets with an offering of one percent of its equity to foreigners in October 1996 in the form of Global Depository Receipts and a successful large bond issue of US$2.5 billion in 1997.

On the second annual shareholders' meeting on May 31, 1996, Alexander Kazakov, the chairman of Russia's State Property Committee, was appointed the Chairman of the Board of Directors, as the Russian law on JSC required the Chairman of the Board of Director and the Chairman of the Managing Committee positions to be occupied by different persons.

1998-2000: Scandals

In 1998 Chernomyrdin was fired from his position of Russia's Prime Minister by President Boris Yeltsin. At the same time, the Russian government suddenly started demanding billions of dollars in back taxes from Gazprom. When tax prosecutors started to seize assets of Gazprom, the company gave in and paid. The company's records started showing a loss for the first time. The reasons are unclear and were explained either by an aging pipeline transport network, corruption, or pre-existing losses that appeared because of more transparent accounting policies.

Gazprom conducted dubious transactions with the gas-trading company Itera and a Gazprom/Itera joint-venture, Purgaz, in the late 1990s, which allegedly benefited various management members and their relatives. Additionally, large-scale asset-stripping of Gazprom was going on by corrupt management and board members through various transactions involving the Gazprom daughter Stroitransgaz and the regional gas company Sibneftegaz. The Gazprom auditor PwC apparently had signed off and covered these transactions.[12]

The investment fund Hermitage Capital Management, a minority shareholder of Gazprom, reported on the scandals in October 2000: "Investors are valuing this company as if 99 percent of its assets have been stolen. The real figure is around 10 percent so that's good news".[13]

On the fourth annual shareholders' meeting on June 26, 1998, Farit Gazizullin, the new Chairman of Russia's State Property Committee, was elected Chairman of the Board of Directors.

On the fifth annual shareholders' meeting on June 30, 1998, Viktor Chernomyrdin became the Chairman of the Board of Directors.

On the seventh shareholders' meeting on June 30, 2000 (the sixth took place on August 26, 1999), Deputy Head of Russia's Presidential Administration Dmitry Medvedev occupied this position.

2001-2003: Reform years

Russian President Vladimir Putin was actively pursuing reforms in the management of the company in the years following the scandals. This was aided by shareholder activism by Hermitage CEO William Browder and former Russian finance minister Boris Fyodorov.

On May 30, 2001, the Board of Directors replaced Rem Vyakhirev, whose contract had expired, with Alexei Miller as the new CEO to guide the reforms; Rem Viakhirev was moved to the position of Chairman of the Board at the 8th shareholders' meeting on June 29, 2001, temporarily replacing Dmitry Medvedev who became his deputy.

In April 2001 Gazprom took over NTV, Russia's only nationwide state-independent television station held by Vladimir Gusinsky's Media-Most holding, which caused major changes in its editorial policy.[14][15][16] On November 8, 2001 by the decision of a Moscow court of May 4, 2001, a block of shares comprising 25 percent of stock capital of the Media-Most holdings was transferred to Gazprom Media, a media holding founded in 1998 and owned by Gazprom. In July 2002 Gazprom Media acquired all Gusinsky's shares in media companies of the holding, which resulted in dramatic changes of their editorial policy and closure of some publications.[17] In June 2005 Gazprom Media purchased the influential Russian newspaper Izvestia.

Until 2004, the Russian government held a 38.37 percent stake in the company, and had a majority on the company’s board of directors. Gazprom provides 25 percent of all Russian tax revenues (averaging over US$4 billion annually between 1993-2003) and accounts for 8 percent of the nation's gross domestic product. Non-Russian investors may legally buy Gazprom shares only through Depositary Shares, which cost more than locally-traded shares.

In 2004, Putin announced that Gazprom was to acquire the state-owned oil-company Rosneft and that this will "eventually lead to the lifting of foreign ownership restrictions on Gazprom shares," as the stake of the Russian government in Gazprom will rise from 38.37 percent to a controlling position.[18]

However, Gazprom was foiled both in its attempt to acquire Rosneft, and its earlier attempt to buy the core asset of Yukos, when Yukos filed for bankruptcy in Houston. Fearing that it might fall foul of US law, Gazprom backed away from buying Yukos' main asset when the Russian government auctioned it in December 2004, leaving the more gung-ho Rosneft to buy it. After Rosneft had appropriated such a large and controversial asset, the technicalities of merging it into Gazprom became too complicated. Instead, Rosneft remained independent, to the delight of its own management. The state increased its stake in Gazprom to over 50 percent instead by paying cash for a 10.4% stake, thus fulfilling the main pre-condition for the abolition of restrictions on foreign ownership of Gazprom shares.

On July 26, 2004, Gazprom sold 49.979% out of its 100 percent share of the SOGAZ insurance group to an unnamed purchaser for 1.69 billion Russian rubles,[19] and 26 percent more of SOGAZ in August 2004 for 879.3 million rubles.[20][21] In January 2005 it turned out that ABRos, a subsidiary of Russia Bank, held a 49.97 percent share of SOGAZ.[22][23]

2005-2006

Russian Government control

In June 2005, Gazprombank, Gazpromivest Holding, Gazfond and Gazprom Finance B. V., subisidiaries of Gazprom, agreed to sell a 10.7399% share to the state-owned company Rosneftegaz for $7 bn, which was considered by some western analysts as an understated price.[24] The sale was to be completed by December 25, which combined with the 38% share of the State Property Committee, gave the Russian Government control of the company.[25]

In September 2005, Gazprom bought 72.633% of the oil company Sibneft (now Gazprom Neft) for $13.01 billion, aided by a $12 billion loan, which consolidated Gazprom's position as a global energy giant and Russia's biggest company. On the day of the deal the company was worth £69.7 billion/US$123.2 billion, equivalent at the time to the gross domestic product of Ireland.

Gazprom City

Main article: Gazprom City

On November 15 2005, Gazprom CEO Alexei Miller and Saint Petersburg Governor Valentina Matviyenko announced that Sibneft is going to build the Gazprom City business center including a 300 meter high skyscraper with its headquarters on the right bank of the Neva River in front of the Smolny Cathedral in St. Petersburg, despite current regulations forbidding construction of a building of more than 48 meters high.

Russia-Ukraine gas dispute

Main article: Russia-Ukraine gas dispute

On January 1 2006, at 10:00 (Moscow time), Gazprom ceased the supply of gas to the Ukrainian market, calling on Ukraine's government to pay increased fees that partially reflected the globally increased fuel prices.

During the night of January 3 - January 4 2006, Naftohaz Ukrainy and Gazprom negotiated a deal that temporary[26] resolved the long-standing gas price conflict between Russia and Ukraine.

On March 13,2008, Gazprom agreed to supply Ukraine with gas for the rest of the year in a deal that will cut out intermediary companies, a move it hopes will end payment disputes. Ukraine will pay $315 (£115) per 1,000 cubic metres of gas supplied in January and February this year, then between March and December it will pay $179.50 per 1,000 cubic metres. [27] This came after a three day crisis the week before when gas supplies to Ukraine were halved.

Foreign investment

As the Russian state had acquired a controlling share of Gazprom earlier in the year, the 20% restriction on foreign investment in Gazprom was lifted and the company became fully open to foreign investors.[28][29]

In April 2006, Gazprom's market capitalization was US$ 270 billion.

Exclusive export right

On July 202006, the Federal Law "On Gas Export" granting Gazprom exclusive right to export natural gas was published, and hence came into force.[30] It was almost unanimously approved by the State Duma on July 5, by the upper house, the Federation Council on July 7 and signed by President Vladimir Putin on July 18.[31][32][33]

Russia-Belarus energy dispute

Main article: Russia-Belarus energy dispute

On April 3 2006, Gazprom indicated it would triple the price of natural gas sold to Belarus after December 31 2006. In December 2006 Gazprom threatened a cut-off of supplies to Belarus at 10 a.m. Moscow time on January 12007, unless it agrees to raise the price it pays for the gas from $47 to $200 per 1,000 cubic metres or to cede control over its distribution network.[34] Some analysts suggested Moscow was penalising Alexander Lukashenko, the President of Belarus, for not delivering on pledges of closer integration with Russia,[35] while others noted that other friendly countries like Armenia were paying as much for their gas as Belarus would with the new price levels.[36]

Later Gazprom requested a price of $105,[37] yet Belarus still refusing the agreement. It responded that if supplies were cut, it would deny Gazprom access to its pipelines, which would hurt gas transportation to Europe.[38] However, on January 1 2007, just a few hours before the deadline, Belarus and Gazprom signed a last-minute agreement. Under the agreement, Belarus undertook to pay $100 per 1,000 cubic metre in 2007. The agreement also allowed Gazprom to purchase 50% of the shares in Beltransgaz, the Belarusian pipeline network.[39] Immediately following the signing of this agreement Belarus declared a $42/ton transportation tax on Russian oil travelling through the Gazprom pipelines crossing its territory.

Sakhalin-II

On December 21, 2006, Gazprom took control over a 50%-plus-one-share stake in Royal Dutch Shell's Sakhalin-II project[40][41] after Russian regulators had withdrawn an environmental permit for Sakhalin-II on September 18, 2006, citing damage to salmon streams. The latter event was widely interpreted as a move by the Russian government to force a renegotiation of the Sakhalin-II deal.[42]

2007

On July 4 2007 the State Duma passed a bill giving Gazprom and Transneft the authority to create their own security forces with greater powers than other private security firms.[43] Gennady Gudkov, a deputy in the State Duma who opposed the bill, raised concerns by calling it a “Pandora’s box... This law envisages the creation of corporate armies. If we pass this law, we will all become servants of Gazprom and Transneft.”

Deputy chief executive Alexander Medvedev announced the company would aim to achieve a market capitalization of $1 trillion dollars "in a period of seven to ten years." He added: "we'd like to be the most-valued and most-capitalised company in the world."[44]

In June 2007, TNK-BP, a subsidiary of BP plc agreed to sell its stake in Kovykta field in Siberia to Gazprom after the Russian authorities questioned BP's right to export the gas to markets outside Russia.[45][46][47][48] On June 23, 2007, the governments of Russia and Italy signed a memorandum of understanding to cooperate on a joint venture between Gazprom and Eni SpA to construct a 558-mile (900 km) long gas pipeline to carry 1.05 Tcf (30 billion cubic meters) of gas per year from Russia to Europe. The South Stream pipeline would extend under the Black Sea to Bulgaria with a south fork extending to Italy and a north fork to Hungary.[49][50][51]

Following the alleged violation of previous agreements and the failure of negotiations, on August 1, 2007 Gazprom announced that it would cut gas supplies to Belarus by 45% from August 3 over a $456 million debt.[52] Talks are continuing and Belarus has asked for more time to pay. Although the revived dispute is not expected to hit supplies to Europe, the European Commission is said to view the situation 'very seriously'.[52]

Shareholders

As of 29 December 2006, Gazprom's main shareholders were:[53]

The Russian government controls 50.002 percent of shares in Gazprom through Rosimushchestvo, Rosneftegaz, and Rosgazifikatsiya.[53]

Management

Board of Directors

Gazprom's Board of Directors as of December 2006:[54]

Former members of the Board:

Management Committee

Gazprom's Management Committee as of December 2006:[55]

Former members of the Management Committee:

Shareholdings

Shares of the members of the Board of Directors and Management Committee (as of September 52005):[56]

Others have no share.

VNIIGAZ

Scientific research institute of the Russian gas giant GAZPROM. Scientific and technological solutions to research, development and project issues.

Main purpose is to find and make use of new oil/gas wells.

Sports sponsorships

Gazprom is the sponsor of Russian Premier League football club FC Zenit St. Petersburg.

On January 1, 2007 Gazprom also became the sponsor of the German Bundesliga club FC Schalke 04 paying up to €25 million a year for the privilege.

See also

References

  1. ^ Gazprom is a contraction of 'Газовая промышленность' (Gazovaya Promyshlennost), meaning 'gas industry'.
  2. ^ Numbers from the Financial Times: "Energy of the State", March 14 2006; older data is available online at Gazprom reserve statistics
  3. ^ Article about reserves after Sibneft acquisition
  4. ^ Europe Worries Over Russian Gas Giant's Influence | EnergyBulletin.net | Peak Oil News Clearinghouse
  5. ^ Bulgaria, Russia's Gazprom Agree On Gas Deal - RADIO FREE EUROPE / RADIO LIBERTY
  6. ^ Taipei Times - archives
  7. ^ Mosnews.com
  8. ^ http://www.guardian.co.uk/feedarticle?id=7140744
  9. ^ Russia's Gazprom Plans Pipeline to Italy | All American Patriots
  10. ^ petroleumworld
  11. ^ Russia's Gazprom Plans Pipeline to Italy | All American Patriots
  12. ^ Gazprom: Russia's Enron?, BusinessWeek online, February 18, 2002
  13. ^ Gazprom and Hermitage Capital: Shareholder Activism in Russia, 2002, Stanford Graduate School of Business Case IB-36
  14. ^ BBC News | EUROPE | Russian TV station loses freedom
  15. ^ BBC News | EUROPE | Russian NTV viewers on the streets
  16. ^ Putin is out to get me, says media tycoon | World news | The Guardian
  17. ^ BBC News | EUROPE | Russian NTV handed to Gazprom
  18. ^ Hermitage news item about the raising of the stake of the Russian government to a controlling interest in 2004
  19. ^ Новости компании - Rusbonds
  20. ^ Who sold SOGAZ? by Pavel miledin et al., Vedomosti #144 (1184), August 132004 (in Russian, subscription required)
  21. ^ Новости компании - Rusbonds
  22. ^ http://www.vedomosti.ru/newspaper/article.shtml?2005/01/21/85958 SOGAZ sold to St. Pete] by Pavel Miledin et al., Vedomosti #9 (1290), January 212005 (in Russian, subscription required, full text freely available here: [1]).
  23. ^ Новости компании - Rusbonds
  24. ^ Kremlin agrees price for Gazprom, BBC News, June 162005.
  25. ^ ОАО «Газпром» | О компании / История / 2005 год
  26. ^ BBC NEWS | Business | Gazprom restores Ukraine gas flow
  27. ^ Gazprom and Ukraine sign gas deal BBC March 13, 2008
  28. ^ Gazprom: Open for Global Investors by Jason Bush, BusinessWeek, January 132006.
  29. ^ Gazprom opens doors to foreigners, BBC News, June 242005.
  30. ^ Full text in Russian
  31. ^ Duma votes for Russian gas export monopoly by Neil Buckley and Tobias Buck, The Financial Times, June 162006.
  32. ^ Duma approves Gazprom export bill, BBC News, July 52006.
  33. ^ http://www.sptimes.ru/index.php?action_id=2&story_id=18152 Gazprom’s Monopoly On Exports Backed by Duma] by Stephen Boykewich, The St. Petersburg Times #1184 (50), July 72006.
  34. ^ Russian gas demands irk Belarus, BBC News, December 182006.
  35. ^ Putin turns on close ally Belarus by Neil Buckley, Financial Times, December 132006
  36. ^ Äåëîâàÿ íåäåëÿ - "Àðìåíèÿ õî÷åò ïîäêëþ÷èòüñÿ ê ãàçîâîé òðóáå"
  37. ^ Belarus-Gazprom Gas Talks Reach Impasse by Steve Gutterman, The Washington Post, December 26 2006
  38. ^ Belarus gas row 'may hurt Europe', BBC News, December 272006
  39. ^ Belarus, Russia sign new gas deal, CNN, December 312006.
  40. ^ BBC NEWS | Business | Gazprom grabs Sakhalin gas stake
  41. ^ Sakhalin issues 'settled' - as Russia takes 50% stake | Business | The Guardian
  42. ^ Kramer, Andrew E. (2006). "Russian oil reversal stirs outcry". International Herald Tribune.
  43. ^ Gazprom to raise its own private army to protect oil installations
  44. ^ Griffiths, Katherine (2007-04-11). "Russian giant Gazprom aims to be the world's first $1,000 billion company". Telegraph.co.uk. Retrieved 2007-04-11.
  45. ^ "BP Set to Leave Russia Gas Project", by Guy Chazan and Gregory L. White, Wall Street Journal, 2007-06-23 p. A3
  46. ^ "BP sells Kovykta gas field stake to Gazprom". CNN. 2007-06-22. Retrieved 2007-06-29. {{cite news}}: Check date values in: |date= (help)
  47. ^ "Moscow Presses BP to Sell a Big Gas Field to Gazprom". New York Times. 2007-06-23. Retrieved 2007-06-29. {{cite news}}: Check date values in: |date= (help)
  48. ^ "Gazprom, BP and TNK-BP enter into agreement on major terms of cooperation". Gazprom. 2007-06-22. Retrieved 2007-06-29. {{cite news}}: Check date values in: |date= (help)
  49. ^ "Gazprom Pipeline Plan May Fuel Worry" by Gabriel Kahn, Wall Street Journal, 2007-06-25 p. A11
  50. ^ "Gazprom, Eni plan big gas pipeline bypassing Turkey". Reuters. 2007-06-23. Retrieved 2007-06-26. {{cite news}}: Check date values in: |date= (help)
  51. ^ "Eni and Gazprom sign the agreement for the South Stream Project". Eni. 2007-06-23. Retrieved 2007-06-26. {{cite news}}: Check date values in: |date= (help)
  52. ^ a b Gazprom to halve gas to Belarus in debt row Reuters, published 2007-08-01, accessed 2007-08-01
  53. ^ a b "Gazprom's Annual Report 2006" (PDF). Gazprom. 2006. Retrieved 2007-08-15.
  54. ^ Gazprom
  55. ^ Gazprom
  56. ^ http://www.gazprom.ru/documents/otchet_A6_22092005.doc

External links

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