Gazprom top executives are to hold a key...
Respected Russian business daily Kommersant reported on Tuesday that abundant shale gas has made the United States, the world"s largest natural gas market, self-sufficient while surplus liquefied natural gas undermines the competitiveness of Russian natural gas in Europe.
The lack of revolutionary ideas from Gazprom"s management to reverse negative trends jeopardizes the development of the huge Shtokman gas field in the Russian Arctic, which was primarily designed to cater to the U.S. and Canadian markets, the paper said.
Gazprom deputy CEO Alexander Medvedev, who is expected to sum up the results of the energy giant"s 2009 operations, will confirm that Gazprom"s sales fell 11.4% last year to 140 billion cubic meters due to a slump in global gas consumption. Medvedev earlier said Gazprom"s export revenues were expected to plummet to $40-42 billion in 2009 compared with $64 billion in the previous year, the paper said.