Two members of the Academy of Sciences and Vladimir Putin's former teacher join Gazprom's Board of Directors
By Natalya Grib
This year there will be 18 candidates for 11 seats on Gazprom's Board of Directors. Representatives of independent gas companies, Itera and NOVATEC, have been stricken off the list of candidates. They have been replaced by Valery Musin, a head of department at St Petersburg State University and former research supervisor of President Dmitry Medvedev and teacher of Prime Minister Vladimir Putin, as well as two members of the Russian Academy of Sciences (RAS).
Gazprom's Board of Directors yesterday decided to hold the annual meeting of shareholders on June 26 and approved the list of candidates for its Board of Directors. There are 18 contenders for 11 seats. The list includes five civil servants, four Gazprom managers and nine independent representatives. The Government's candidates are Energy Minister Sergei Shmatko (he will replace the Minister of Industry and Trade, Viktor Khristenko), Yury Petrov, the head of Rosimushchestvo state property regulator, as well as the current directors First Deputy Premier Viktor Zubkov, Economic Minister Elvira Nabiullina and the President's special representative Igor Yusufov. Rosgazifikatsiya has nominated the former head of the Property Management Ministry Farit Gazizullin (a board member); Gerosgaz and E.ON Ruhrgaz have nominated the former head of the German corporate group Burkhard Bergman.
Kommersant's sources who have watched the list being put together say that changes were being introduced "up until the last moment". Kommersant's sources in the Government, the Gazprom Board of Directors and management said that as late as Tuesday morning there was a long list of candidates that included the representatives of independent gas producers, Itera and NOVATEC.
"The Prime Minister cut the list apart," our source in the Government said. However, another well-informed source claims that the amendments were made by President Dmitry Medvedev. As a result, scientists replaced gasmen on the list. They are Valery Musin, head of the Civil Procedure Department at St Petersburg University Law Faculty, among whose students were both Dmitry Medvedev and Vladimir Putin. Also nominated as candidates were Director of the RAS Energy Research Institute, Alexei Makarov, and Director of the RAS Joint Institute for High Temperatures, Vladimir Fortov.
The Vice President of the Russian Gas Society, Oleg Zhilin, explains why Mr Makarov has been put on the list: "He is a well-known personality who has long worked on the problems of the fuel and energy sector in Russia and is currently involved in the development of a new national energy strategy."
Another candidate for independent director is Viktor Nikolayev, Director-General of the St Petersburg Stock Exchange (SPBEX). He told Kommersant that he was urging Gazprom to create an independent commodity exchange where foreigners could buy gas and oil for roubles.
The President of CiG Group, Vladimir Gusakov has also been named as a candidate. Mr Gusakov, who also serves as an independent director of RZD and formerly acted as an official at the Federal Service for Financial Markets, says his name was put on the list "with the approval of Gazprom."
Deputy Chairman of the Board of Renaissance Capital, Robert Foresman, has been nominated as a candidate before, but has never yet been elected. Gazprom's candidates for the Board are Chairman of the Board Alexei Miller, his deputies Alexander Ananenkov and Mikhail Sereda, and the Chief of Economic Analysis and Pricing Department Yelena Karpel. The last candidate is Andrei Akimov, the head of Gazprombank.
"Only the shareholders' meeting on June 26 will decide how many independent directors there will be," the head of Gazprom press service Igor Volobuyev told Kommersant. The Presidential Executive Office and the Government, however, made no comment on this. In July last year the Government announced its plans to reduce the number of state representatives on the boards of directors of companies with government participation in favour of independent representatives. Deputy Prime Minister Igor Sechin at the time proposed a shakeup of Gazprom, but it was decided that the reorganisation would wait until 2009.