Independents Snap At Gazprom's Heels

摘要

Already struggling with shrinking European sales, Gazprom is now having trouble at home, where independent gas producers are making bigger inroads and are pushing to be allowed to sell to China (WGI Jan.7' 15). In Russia, "independent producer" is defined as any company not controlled by Gazprom, and the main ones are Novatek and state-run oil giant Rosneft. Their production is climbing even as Gazprom's plunged 9% to a record low of 432 billion cubic meters (42 billion cubic feet per day) last year, hurt by an estimated 10% reduction in its European sales. Novatek produced 53.6 Bern, 1% up on the year before, and Rosneft is catching up fast. Its output jumped 30% in 2014 to 37.3 Bcm after it consolidated gas producers Itera and Sibneftegas and bought Rospan as part of the TNK-BP deal in 2013.