Georgian Oil and Gas Company
The Georgian Oil and Gas Society (GOGC) is a Georgian state-owned company dedicated to the extraction and distribution of crude oil and natural gas .
It was created on March 24, 2006 by decree of the Georgian Ministry of Economic Affairs from the merger of three Georgian state-owned companies, the International Georgian Gas Company (GIGC), the Georgian Oil Company (GIOC) and the Georgian National Oil Company ( Georgian Saknawatobi ). Its business areas are the control of the Georgian gas network (formerly GIGC), the international oil supply and management of oil pipelines in Georgia (formerly GIOC) and oil production on Georgian soil (formerly Saknawtobi).
The company has a monetary capital of 101 million Georgian lari (around 55.5 million US dollars ). The supplier for natural gas is the Russian company Gazprom, for crude oil the Azerbaijani production at the Shah-Denis oil field.
The company's Board of Directors has seven members. Three of them belong to the Georgian government. In 2006 it was Prime Minister Zurab Nogaideli , Energy Minister Nika Gilauri and Economy Minister Irakli Chogowadze.
In Georgia there are political concerns about the privatization of the state-owned company after the Russian Gazprom tried in May 2003 by way of a "strategic partnership" with the Georgian government to control the Georgian gas network. The deal could be cleared because the Georgian state owes Gazprom more than 450 million US dollars. However, this is the April 7, 2006, the United States closed Millennium Challenge contract against which forbids to sell the power of the Georgian gas and oil pipelines.