The Gazprom headquarters hosted a working meeting between Alexey Miller, Chairman of the Company's Management Committee and Jean-Francois Cirelli, Special Advisor to the Presidency of GDF Suez (Gas Supplies).

The parties addressed the current issues and prospects for the cooperation deepening in the gas sector, paying special attention to gas supply to France and other European countries. The discussion was also focused on Nord Stream as a gas pipeline running from Russia to Europe and bypassing the transit countries and, therefore, being one of the most reliable and efficient channels of Russian gas supply to European consumers.

Alexey Miller and Jean-Francois Cirelli also considered the risks related to gas transit across Ukraine.

About GDF SUEZ and Gazprom

The cooperation between Gazprom and GDF SUEZ in the gas supply sector started in 1975. In 2006 Gazprom and GDF SUEZ signed the Agreement to extend all of the three existing contracts for Russian natural gas supply to France until 2030. Moreover, the parties agreed on additional gas volumes for GDF SUEZ via the Nord Stream gas pipeline: at present, its contracted volume is 2.5 billion cubic meters per year.

Nord Stream is an export gas pipeline with the annual capacity of 55 billion cubic meters of gas across the Baltic Sea from Russia to Germany. A 1,224-kilometer gas pipeline consists of two strings. Nord Stream AG, a joint project company (Gazprom holding a 51 per cent stake, Wintershall Holding and E.ON Global Commodities – 15.5 per cent each, Gasunie and GDF Suez – 9 per cent each) is the project operator.

In 2014 Gazprom exported 7.095 billion cubic meters of gas to France.

About Gazprom

Gazprom is a global energy company. Its major business lines are geological exploration, production, transportation, storage, processing and sales of gas, gas condensate and oil, sales of gas as a vehicle fuel as well as generation and marketing of heat and electric power.

Gazprom views its mission in reliable, efficient and balanced supply of natural gas, other energy resources and their derivatives to consumers.

Gazprom holds the world’s largest natural gas reserves. The Company’s share in the global and Russian gas reserves makes up 18 and 72 per cent respectively. Gazprom accounts for 14 and 74 per cent of the global and Russian gas output accordingly. At present, the Company actively implements large-scale projects aimed at exploiting gas resources of the Yamal Peninsula, Arctic Shelf, Eastern Siberia and the Far East, as well as hydrocarbons exploration and production projects abroad.

Gazprom is a reliable supplier of gas to Russian and foreign consumers. The Company owns the world’s largest gas transmission network – the Unified Gas Supply System of Russia with the total length of over 168 thousand kilometers. Gazprom sells more than half of overall produced gas to Russian consumers and exports gas to more than 30 countries within and beyond the former Soviet Union.