Over the years, the state gas company "Gazprom" felt the consequences of mismanagement and politically justified extensions. The volume of production this year is forecast to become the lowest in the company's history. Pipeline projects are in limbo and not all safely in Europe - the key market of the Russian monopoly.

Dreams Dreams

In June 2008, when the market value of Gazprom reached $ 360 billion, Chief Executive Officer Alexei Miller said that in 7-8 years the company will become the largest company in the world, worth $ 1 trillion. Miller, who has worked with the current President Vladimir Putin in St. Petersburg in the 1990s, was proud of what he managed to achieve since taking office in 2001. He returned the valuable assets of the company, which it lost in previous leaders, to increase production, "Gazprom" revenues grew to $ 94 billion. In the light of those events is not surprising that Miller allowed himself to dream and made such an ambitious statement.

However, now you can safelyOVOR that the head of "Gazprom" was wrong. Seven years after its application the company is worth $ 55 billion. With this measure, it is not even ranked in the top 100 most valuable global enterprises.

Russian Ministry of Economy forecasted drop in "Gazprom" production to 414 billion cubic meters. m. of gas, which will be another anti-record. The company expects to increase domestic consumption and exports, but the domestic market demand has fallen sharply due to the crisis in Russia, which caused a drop in production. Europe, which is the company's largest export market, began to actively seek alternative energy suppliers. In 2014 Gazprom export was at 90 billion cubic meters. m. lower than in 2008. Despite the decline in exports, the company continued to invest in the production and laying of pipelines.

Trouble for the "Gazprom"

According to experts, when Miller "Gazprom" would spend 2.4 trillion rubles ($ 40 billion) to the "not the most necessary" investment. Perhaps these projects needed to ensure profits billionaires-contractors "Gazpromand "including Arkady Rotenberg and Gennady Timchenko. According to Forbes, their company earned $ 1.9 billion only in the failed "South Stream" - a gas pipeline through which Russian gas was delivered to southern Europe bypassing Ukraine. These investments can be recouped even if an alternative pipeline "Turkish Stream" will be built, but until now "Gazprom" talks with the Turkish gas company Botas failed.

Stalled negotiations and collapsing one after the other projects have become a major nuisance to "Gazprom", which the Kremlin is using as a vehicle for its European expansion. Europe has long been wary of the role of the Russian gas monopoly, in particular because of the pressure that is exerted by the company in Ukraine. Kiev has recently been making every effort to diversify supplies. In the past year, according to data Enalytica energy consulting company, he increased gas imports from Europe, from 8 to 28 percent. The increase was made possible in part thanks to the fact that "Gazprom" delivers in Germaniyu more gas than is necessary to the Germans and the neighboring countries, and it allows them to export to Ukraine.

Smaller failure

At the same time, "Gazprom" is the dispute with the European Commission, which accuses him of inflating prices for customers in Eastern Europe, where he maintains a monopoly on the gas supply. "Gazprom" is also trying to find another way to Europe to implement his plan - to build a pipeline bypassing Ukraine until 2019, that will not be easy after the European Union blocked the implementation of the "South Stream".

However, the company pursues a number of smaller failures. In a recently released report for 2014 Gazprom Germania, which is a subsidiary of "Gazprom", which accounted for about 14% of revenue, announced a loss of $ 34.5 million (previous year, the profit amounted to about $ 300 million). Due to the poor performance of financial statements turned out to be foiled an exchange of assets, in which Germany's Wintershall had to get a stake in the gas fields of "Gazprom" and the Russian company - shares sovmesGOVERNMENTAL with German enterprises. Gazprom Germania was also forbidden to sell natural gas to German gas stations. This decision is now the company is appealing.

In the annual report, it warned that waiting in front of new challenges:

"Current regulatory intervention in the energy sector has the potential to have huge implications for the income groups, and therefore, is considered a significant factor revision of energy policy and its reorientation to renewable energy sources -. Especially in Germany - can seriously limit the competitiveness of natural gas regulation. price for the use of pipelines and the potential use of these measures in respect of underground storage facilities, will have a negative impact on the natural gas market and may limit the investment and project activities Gazprom Germania ".

Fight for survival

Europe is no longer a friendly market for "Gazprom" for political and regulatory reasons. While the Russian supplier is still in a state ofand sell gas at competitive prices, one can hardly expect to increase supplies. The slowdown in economic growth in China, meanwhile, undermines the grandiose plans for market diversification. The company has already turned the project to supply liquefied natural gas from the Far East to the Chinese market. The construction of the Altai gas pipeline to China, which was announced earlier this year, also postponed indefinitely. Thus the relevance of today has retained only one of the projects of the gas pipeline, which was agreed in May, 2014.

Last year, 9% of the Russian government revenue fell to "Gazprom". The company remains a "cash cow", but is currently experiencing a lot of difficulties: a drop in gas prices, falling demand, unfriendly policy of major buyers. To realize the dream of Alexey Miller, "Gazprom" has to dramatically reduce costs and create an efficient strategy of behavior in a hostile environment. If the situation does not change soon, soon "Gazprom" will have to fight for survival.