On April 22, 2015 the European Commission published a press release on its official website, according to which the European Commission adopted a “statement of objections” in the course of ongoing antitrust investigation of OAO “Gazprom” activity in the European Union (EU).

OAO “Gazprom” considers the claims brought by the European Commission to be unsubstantiated. In the meantime, the adoption of the “statement of objections” by the European Commission is just one of the stages of the antitrust investigation and does not imply holding OAO “Gazprom” liable for any violation of the EU antitrust legislation.

OAO “Gazprom” strictly adheres to all the rules of international law and legislation in the countries where Gazprom Group operates. Operation of Gazprom Group on the EU market, including applicable principles of gas pricing, meets the standards that are used by other producers and exporters of gas.

We expect that within the framework of the investigation our rights and interests arising from both EU law and international law will be adequately observed, and special attention will be paid to the fact that OAO “Gazprom”, being established outside of the jurisdiction of the EU, is a company which in accordance with the Russian legislation performs functions of public interest and has a status of strategic state-controlled entity.

OAO “Gazprom” expects the situation to be resolved in accordance with the agreement reached earlier between the Government of the Russian Federation and the European Commission on finding on the intergovernmental level of mutually acceptable solution on the issue of antitrust investigation.

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.