Gazprom Germania

GAZPROM Germania GmbH (Russian: ГАЗПРОМ Германия ГмбХ), a company registered in Berlin, Germany, is headquarters of a diversified conglomerate, GAZPROM Germania Group, operating in more than 20 countries, and is a 100% subsidiary of the world's largest natural gas company, Gazprom.

General overview

GAZPROM Germania Group is active in natural gas sales and marketing, trading, exploration and production, as well as in underground storage projects. Companies of the group operate in Europe, USA, Central Asia and Singapore.^[4]

GAZPROM Germania Group owns shares in:

• Wingas (50%), with about 18% share of the gas market in Germany [1][2], a joint venture between GAZPROM Germania GmbHand and Wintershall, the largest crude oil and natural gas producer in Germany.
• Gazprom Marketing and Trading Limited (GM&T) (100%), based in London with a focus on energy marketing and trading (natural gas, LNG, carbon and power), and operating in UK, USA, France, Singapore, etc.
• VNG - Verbundnetz Gas AG (10,5%), the third largest natural gas company in Germany (after E.ON Ruhrgas and Wintershall).^[5]
• Vemex s.r.o. (51%), located in Prague, and controlling about 10-12% of the Czech gas market.^[6]
• Bosphorus Gaz Corporation (51%), located in Turkey, controlling about 3% of the Turkish market.^[7]
• Gas Project Development Central Asia AG (50%).
• Wintershall Erdgas Handelshaus Zug AG (WIEE) (50%).
• ZMB (Schweiz) AG (100%) ^[8]

Sponsoring

In addition to its main activities of expanding Gazprom's operations in foreign markets, Gazprom Germania Group is an active sponsor of activities that promote Gazprom's and Russian image in Europe. The company is sponsoring: Europa-Park in Rust (the largest theme park in Germany), famous German soccer club FC Schalke 04,^[9] various Russian cultural events in Germany, such as Russian film festival and bringing of famous Russian orchestras to Europe.^[10]

Questions about activities

A U.S. Senate testimony, overseen by Sen. Joe Biden, noted:^[11]

Gazprom, with the silent support of the Kremlin has set up 50 or so middlemen companies, silently linked to Gazprom and scattered throughout Europe - such as the Centrex group of companies and the Gazprom Germania network - which do not add any value to the price of Russian gas being sold on European markets; yet they earn enormous sums of money which appears to simply vanish through shell companies in Cyprus and in Lichtenstein.

German investigations have revealed how the company's managers are connected to East Germany and the Stasi.^[12]

• Hans-Joachim Gornig - former Managing Director>.^[4] He was also a manager of ZMB GmbH, a subsidiary of Gazprom Germania, which now doesn't exist. Former deputy chief executive of the gas and oil industry in East Germany. In 1990 Gornig convinced Gazprom head Viktor Chernomyrdin to establish Gazprom Germania. In 2008 German media reported that Gornig was involved in fraud and embezzlement. The German prosecutor's office could not act on the case because no-one had filed a complaint.^[12]
• Felix Strehober - has been Financial Director since 1998. Strehober studied in Moscow from 1978 to 1982. He worked for the Stasi between 1985 and 1989. In May 2008 Strehober's Stasi past came under investigation of Cologne chief prosecutor Guenther Feld. Strehober was fined.^[12][13]
• Hans-Uve Kreher - Director on personnel and organizational matters. Former Stasi agent under operative names Roland Schröder and Hartmann.^[14]

Management

CEO - Senior Managing Director (German: Hauptsgeschäftsführer) of GAZPROM Germania Group is Vladimir Kotenev (Russian: Владимир Котенев). Before being appointed the new head of Gazprom Germania, Mr Kotenev worked in the Russian foreign service. In 2004 - 2010 Mr Kotenev was the Russian ambassador to Germany.^[4][5]

References