The Russian Federation possesses the richest mineral reserves. Almost all elements of the periodic table are hidden in the bowels of our country. Particularly important for the country's economy are hydrocarbons, in particular, natural gas. The total volume of natural gas reserves in Russia is, according to various sources, 45-50 billion mĀ³. Who manages this wealth?
The birth and development of the gas giant
By the time of the collapse, the Soviet Union was firmly entrenched among the leading countries in terms of explored reserves of natural gas. From the moment of their discovery, all gas fields were transferred to the Ministry of Gas Industry of the USSR, which organized the extraction and transportation of energy.
In August 1990, the ministry was transformed into a single state gas production concern Gazprom. The leadership was headed by Viktor Chernomyrdin. In November 1992, the company became a joint stock company. In just 5 years, more than 60% of the organizationās shares were sold to private investors.
In the early 2000s, Vladimir Putin initiated the reform of the company and its return to state control. Already in 2004, the stateās share in Gazprom's stake amounted to more than 50.2% instead of 38.7% several years earlier.
In 2005, Gazprom began supplying liquefied natural gas to the United States, a year later - to Japan, the United Kingdom and South Korea. The organization has subsidiaries suppliers and suppliers of gas in Belarus, the Netherlands, Latvia, Lithuania, Estonia, Ukraine, Slovenia, Hungary, Germany and other countries.
The oil production market was actively explored; oil refineries appeared as part of Gazprom . In 2004, it covered 24% of EU consumption with gas supplies. The dependence of some European countries on gas supplies from Russia reached 100%. During this period, the rapid development of supplies to Asian countries began. By the end of 2007, Gazpromās enterprises produced 85% of the Russian and 20% of the worldās gas.
By 2010, the company had international projects for the development of gas and oil fields in Venezuela (360 billion cubic meters of gas and 640 million tons of oil), India (375 million tons of standard fuel), Algeria (30 million tons of oil) and other countries.
Since 2007, Gazpromās childrenās charity program has been implemented at the company's expense, aimed at building sports facilities in various cities of Russia. Over 10 years, more than 1,600 modern sports facilities were built in 73 regions of the country.
Gazprom-Media Holding, established in 1998, is the owner of TNT, TV3, Friday, 2x2, TNT4, MatchTV, NTV-plus, and Avtoradio radio stations , "Humor FM", "Echo of Moscow", editions of "7 Days" and "Caravan" of stories and other resources.
At the end of 2017, the company's net revenue exceeded 6.5 trillion rubles, and profit - 714 billion rubles. 472.1 billion cubic meters of natural gas were produced. Such international projects for the construction of gas pipelines as Nord Stream, Power of Siberia and others are actively developing.
The company employs 469,600 people. Gazprom is the largest energy company in the world.
Head of the concern
The future Chairman of the Gazprom Management Committee, Alexey Miller, was born in Leningrad, in the family of Russified Germans in 1962. He graduated from the Leningrad IPPE named after Ascension. PhD in Economics.
In the 80s he was one of the first economist-reformers of Leningrad, along with Anatoly Chubais, Mikhail Manevich, Andrei Illarionov, Dmitry Travin.
In 1991, he joined the Committee on External Relations of the St. Petersburg City Hall, then headed by Vladimir Putin. Since 1996, he led investment activities at OJSC āSea Port of St. Petersburgā, in 1999 he headed OJSC āBaltic Pipeline Systemā. In 2000-2001 - was the second most important leader of the Minister of Energy of Russia.
In May 2001, he headed the management of Gazprom, becoming the chairman of the board of the company. In the same year, Alexey Miller headed the Board of Directors of Gazprombank, and after 2 years - the Board of Directors of the insurance company Sogaz. Since 2002, he has been Deputy Chairman of the Board of Directors of Gazprom.
In 2005, he was included in the number of members of the Board of Directors of Sibneft, renamed Gazprom Neft. In 2010, Miller became the second most important person in the Russian Football Union. For three consecutive years, starting in 2012, annually occupied the second or third place in the Russian ranking of the highest paid top managers with an annual income of 25 million USD. At the end of 2017, the Chairman of the Gazprom Management Committee Miller headed this rating with an income of USD 17.7 million.
He was awarded 15 orders and medals of 8 countries for his services in strengthening Russian statehood, international friendship and cooperation.
Alexey Miller is married. Wife Irina is a non-public person. Son Michael also rarely appears in public. Miller himself can be described as a highly professional and experienced manager-reformer close to Vladimir Putin, who steadily defends the interests of both the authorities and his inner circle. In his spare time, the head of Gazprom prefers skiing, horse riding and playing the guitar with his family.
Head of the Board of Directors
Another representative of the Gazprom management Viktor Alekseyevich Zubkov was born in 1941 in the Sverdlovsk Region. In 1995, he successfully graduated from the Leningrad Institute of Agriculture. In 2010, he became a doctor of economic sciences. After serving military service in the Soviet Army, he joined the CPSU. For 18 years, starting in 1967, he managed various state farms of the Leningrad Region. In 1991, he quit the CPSU and became Deputy Chairman of the Committee for External Relations of St. Petersburg.
Since 1993, he was one of the main leaders of the State Tax Service of the Russian Federation. In 1999 - 2001 He held the chair of the Deputy Federal Minister for Taxes and Levies. From 2001 to 2004, he was Deputy Minister of Finance of Russia. For three years, until September 2007, he headed the Federal Financial Monitoring Service. From September 2007 to May 2008 he was Chairman of the Government of Russia, member of the Security Council of the Russian Federation, and headed the Council of Ministers of the Russian-Belarusian Union State.
In May 2008, Viktor Zubkov returned to the Government of the Russian Federation. Over the next four years, he was engaged in the development of forestry, fisheries and the country's agricultural sector in the rank of Deputy Prime Minister of Russia.
Since June 2008, he has been Chairman of the Board of Directors of PJSC Gazprom. Since then, in fact, he has been implementing the political decisions of the Russian Government in the company.
For several years in a row, Zubkov combined the leadership of Gazprom with his work as the head of Rosagroleasing and his activities as a member of the Federal Government Commission on tariff and non-tariff regulation in foreign trade.
He has state awards and ranks, is a current state adviser to the Russian Federation of the 1st class. Full holder of the Order "For Merit to the Fatherland".
Married. Has a daughter, whose second husband is the former Minister of Defense of Russia A. Serdyukov. Viktor Zubkov is a quiet family man, a lover of skiing and athletics.