
Location: St. Petersburg, Federal City of St. Petersburg, Russia
Founded: August 1989
Key People:
Viktor Zubkov (Chairman)
Alexey Miller (CEO)
Employees: 466,000
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In August 1989, under the leadership of Viktor Chernomyrdin, the Ministry of Gas Industry was renamed the State Gas Concern Gazprom, and became the Soviet Union's first state run corporate enterprise.
In late 1991, when the Soviet Union dissolved, gas industry assets were transferred to newly established national companies, such as Ukrgazprom and Turkmengazprom. Gazprom kept assets located in Russia and secured a monopoly in the gas sector.
In December 1992, when Boris Yeltsin, the Russian President, appointed Chernomyrdin, Gazprom's Chairman, his Prime Minister, the company's political influence increased. Rem Viakhirev took the chairmanship of Gazprom's Board of Directors and Managing Committee.
Following the Decree of the President of the Russian Federation of 5 November 1992 and the Resolution of the Government of Russia of 17 February 1993, Gazprom became a joint-stock company. Gazprom began to distribute shares under the voucher method. (Each Russian citizen received vouchers to purchase shares of formerly state-owned companies).
By 1994, 33% of Gazprom's shares had been bought by 747,000 members of the public, mostly in exchange for vouchers. Fifteen percent of the stock was allocated to Gazprom employees. The state retained 40% of the shares. That amount was gradually lowered to thirty-eight percent.
Trading of Gazprom's shares was heavily regulated. Foreigners were prohibited from owning more than nine-percent of the shares. In October 1996, 1% of Gazprom's equity was offered for sale to foreigners as Global Depository Receipts. In 1997, Gazprom offered a bond issue of US$2.5 billion.
In June 2005, Gazprombank, Gazpromivest Holding, Gazfond and Gazprom Finance B. V., subsidiaries of Gazprom, sold a 10.7399% share of their stock for $7 billion to Rosneftegaz [ru], a state owned company. Some analysts said the amount paid by Rosneftegaz for the stock was too low. The sale was completed by December 25, 2005. With the purchased stock and the thirty-eight percent share held by the State Property Committee, the Government of Russia gained control of Gazprom. The Government of Russia revoked the Gazprom twenty percent foreign ownership rule and the company became open to foreign investment.
On 4 September 2012, the European Commission announced an anti-trust investigation into Gazprom's activities. This was based on "concerns that Gazprom may be abusing its dominant market position in upstream gas supply markets."
On 21 May 2014, in Shanghai, Gazprom and the China National Petroleum Corporation made a contract worth $400 billion over thirty years. The contract was for Gazprom to deliver 38 billion cubic meters of natural gas per year to China beginning in 2018. In August 2014, construction began with pipes for the Power of Siberia pipeline delivered to Lensk, Yakutia.
In June 2014, Gazprom negotiated with the International Petroleum Investment Company (IPIC of Abu Dhabi) over a 24.9 percent stake in the Austrian oil and gas firm OMV. In July 2014, Gazprom acquired Central Partnership, one of the largest film distributors in Russia.
On 1 December 2014, during a visit to Turkey, Putin said the SouthStream project would not proceed and 63 billion cubic metres per year (bcm/y) of gas would be shipped to Turkey instead of Bulgaria. Bulgaria was being sued by the European Union for signing a contract with Russia, which was not aligned with European Union regulations. The president of Bulgaria, Rosen Plevneliev, pressured the European Union and Russia to quickly resolve the matter.
In September 2015 the Nord Stream 2 contracts were signed, and by July 2021 the pipeline was commissioned.
Gazprom is the owner and sponsor of the Russian Premier League football club FC Zenit Saint Petersburg and its other sporting departments (Basketball and volleyball), as well as volleyball club VC Zenit-Kazan and Gazprom-Ugra Surgut at Russian Volleyball Super League.
On 1 January 2007, Gazprom became the sponsor of the German Bundesliga club FC Schalke 04 at a cost of up to €25 million per year. On 23 November 2009, the partnership was extended for a further five years. Schalke then suspended their sponsorship of Gazprom after the Russian invasion of Ukraine. The sponsorship was worth $150m (USD) over five years.
On 9 July 2010, Gazprom became a sponsor of the Serbian SuperLiga football club Red Star Belgrade. In 2010, Gazprom was a Gold Partner of the Russian professional cycling team, Team Katusha, together with Itera, and Russian Technologies (Rostekhnologii).
On 17 July 2012, Gazprom became the official Global Energy partner of the UEFA Champions League 2012 winners Chelsea. The sponsorship continued for three years to 2015.
In September 2013, Gazprom became an official partner of FIFA tournaments from 2015 to 2018. The contract included the 2018 FIFA World Cup in Russia.
Gazprom also was a sponsor for the defunct-Minardi F1 team in 2002–2003.
Gazprom owns SKA St Petersburg of the KHL and 10% of the MLB team Houston Astros.
On 9 July 2012, Gazprom became a sponsor of the UEFA Champions League and UEFA Super Cup. The sponsorship continued for three seasons until 2015. In 2021, the partnership was also extended until 2024. The company was also set to serve as the global partner for UEFA Euro 2020 and 2024; however, due to the Russian invasion of Ukraine, Gazprom's sponsorship for the Champions League and Euro 2024 was voided, marking the end of their 10-year partnership with UEFA.