[PEN-L:27399] Putin aide takes over as chairman of Gazprom

["Ulhas Joglekar" <joglekarulhas@xxxxxxxxxxx>]

The Economic Times

Saturday, June 29, 2002

Putin aide takes over as chairman of Gazprom

AFP

MOSCOW: The Kremlin consolidated its hold over Russian natural gas giant
Gazprom on Friday, as the deputy head of the presidential administration,
Dmitry Medvedev, was appointed chairman.

Elected at a general shareholders' meeting, Medvedev took over from Rem
Vyakhirev, who quit as chief executive of Gazprom last year but until now
had acted as chairman of the board of directors, a lesser post.

The Russian state, the main shareholder in Gapzrom with a 38-per cent stake,
last year clawed back control over the group after nearly a decade in which
the powerful company operated as a "state within a state."

Rem Vyakhirev, who had run Gazprom as his personal fiefdom since 1992, was
pushed aside and replaced by Alexei Miller, a virtual unknown in the gas
industry who was a close ally of President Vladimir Putin.

The Kremlin nonetheless took the precaution of leaving the chairmanship to
Vyakhirev to avoid an open conflict with his supporters within the company
administration.

"Gazprom's 2001 results were the best for 10 years," the deputy chief
executive, Alexander Ananenkov, told the shareholders' meeting.

Last year, Gazprom shares on the Moscow stock market rose by 90 per cent to
reach 15.72 roubles per share at the end of 2001, he said, adding that
increasing the group's capitalisation remained a principal objective.

Gazprom, the world's largest natural gas producer, holds a quarter of the
world's estimated gas reserves.

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