Economic

Iata predictiile Gazprom (din iunie 2008):

Russia's Gazprom Predicts $250 Oil by 2009
Companies:GazpromBy: Reuters | 10 Jun 2008 | 04:15 PM ET

Russia's Gazprom, the supplier of a quarter of Europe's natural gas, expects the price of crude oil to almost double as the decade draws to a close, taking gas prices with it.


"We think it will reach $250/bbl in the foreseeable future," Chief Executive Alexei Miller told reporters at a presentation in France.

Officials said the prediction was for 2009.

Alexander Medvedev, deputy CEO of Russia's dominant gas group, said gas prices for Europe would rise to reflect the cost of crude.

Europe's gas prices are mainly based on long term contracts and tied to price of crude.

The comments came as the oil price sat at around $134 a barrel, a few dollars short of last week's record level.


Gazprom, already the world's largest gas producer with a stock market value of over $330 billion, expects to triple in size to become a $1 trillion company within seven to 10 years.

It will be investing heavily to that effect, with total investments estimated at $30 billion for 2008 and set to rise in the years after that, company officials said.

Medvedev sought to allay concerns that the company's European investments might be politically motivated, and said EU efforts to diversify its gas supplies would not solve anything.



"Why should we invest money to create the possibility to shut off the gas supply," he said at the presentation in the resort town of Deauville in northern France.

Gazprom sells the EU around a quarter of its gas and wants to raise this to around a third.

Brussels has sought to diversify supplies to avoid over reliance on Russia and improve the security of energy supplies.

"If you diversify suppliers, it will not solve the problem," Medvedev said.