OREANDA-NEWS. June 9, 2008. Headed by Alexey Miller, Chairman of Gazprom’s Management Committee, the Gazprom delegation is participating in the XII International Economic Forum held in St. Petersburg on June 7-8, 2008.

As part of the Forum Alexey Miller delivered a speech at the Conference on “Energy – Global Players and Referees (Interdependence, Partnership and Competition)”. In his speech he noted: “For Gazprom – a company that is geographically based on the territory of Russia – the Russian market is a priority. We will rigorously abide by all of our long-term contract obligations. The size of our reserves permits us to confidently state that Gazprom is able to meet any solvent consumers’ demand for gas, in domestic and foreign markets alike”.

During the first day of the Forum Alexey Miller met with a number of top managers from the world’s largest energy companies as well as with prominent representatives of the political and economic community from the Forum member countries.

In particular, a working meeting was held between Alexey Miller and Paolo Scaroni, Chief Executive Officer of ENI. The parties focused on the issues concerning the South Stream gas pipeline construction and the potential for the companies to promote interaction in hydrocarbon exploration and production in third countries.

Alexey Miller also met with Jurgen Hambrecht, Chairman of the Board of Executive Directors of BASF AG. The parties paid special attention to the issues surrounding the development of the Russian – German cooperation in the energy area and highly appreciated the progress with the joint projects.

Gazprom’s Management Chairman Committee Alexey Miller and Royal Dutch Shell Chief Executive Officer Jeroen van der Veer addressed the progress in the Sakhalin II project, agreed to deepen cooperation in gas extraction and LNG production and discussed the possibility of jointly developing fields on the Yamal Peninsula and in third countries.

Alexey Miller also conducted meetings with Bernhard Reutersberg, Chairman of E.ON Ruhrgas AG Board of Management, Thierry Desmarest, Chairman of Total Board of Directors, David O'Reilly, CEO and Chairman of Chevron Corporation Board of Directors, Jim Mulva, CEO of ConocoPhillips. During the bilateral negotiations the parties addressed the current state of and prospects for cooperation between the companies.

In addition, the Forum hosted the meetings between Alexey Miller and Jeannot Kreckй, Economy and Foreign Trade Minister of Luxembourg, Peer Steinbrьck, Finance Minister of Germany, Bozhidar Dzhelich, Vice-Prime Minister of the Serbian Government, Martin Bartenstein, Economy and Labor Minister of Austria and Waldemar Pawlak, Deputy Prime Minister of the Republic of Poland. The parties discussed the prospects for deeper interaction between Russia and Europe in the energy sector under the EU energy market liberalization conditions.