Gazprom's representative takes over UNECE Gas Centre Chairmanship
Message to the Media
Today Geneva (Switzerland) has convened an annual meeting of the UNECE Gas Centre Executive Board under the Chairmanship of Jacques Deyirmendjian, Vice-President of Gaz de France.
From 2006 the Gas Centre Chairmanship is taken over by Gazprom, with Stanislav Tsygankov, Head of Gazprom’s Foreign Economic Relations Department unanimously approved as the Executive Board Chairman.
The parties discussed matters concerning the preparation and organization of the 11th Annual Conference (involving the top management of Europe’s leading gas production and gas transmission companies) dedicated to LNG deliveries to Europe. The Conference will be held in Hammerfest (Norway) in early May 2006.
The Executive Board analyzed the work of the UNECE Gas Centre Task Force on Company and Market Structure. The Task Force’s analytical report describing present-day gas markets in Europe including Russia will be distributed among oil and gas companies, EU governments and international organizations.
“Russia is a reliable partner of Europe in the gas supply sector. Gazprom’s drastic measures to provide uninterrupted gas deliveries to its European customers during the gas dispute with Ukraine are strong proof to the above. Implementing the North European Gas Pipeline project is a pre-requisite for the extra safety and security of gas deliveries from Russia” said Stanislav Tsygankov.
Background
Founded in 1994 by the UNECE Working Group for Gas and co-promoted by Gazprom, the UNECE Gas Centre emerged as a technical cooperation programme “Promotion and Development of a Market-Based Gas Industry in Economies in Transition” and nowadays comprises 25 Europe’s leading gas production, transmission and marketing firms, including E.ON Ruhrgas, Wintershall, Gaz de France, Statoil, ENI, Gasunie, Shell, National Grid, Botas, Sonatrach and others. The UNECE Gas Centre Task Force on Company and Market Structure was set up in 2005.
Information Directorate, OAO Gazprom