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Forbes Looks At Gazprom

By Eric McErlain
For those of you who would like to get a good review on the rise of Russia's Gazprom, and how it's having an ever greater effect on world energy markets, a piece in the latest issue of Forbes is a good place to start:
"This is not a business where you can get away with bullying a counter-party," says John Hattenberger, Gazprom's point man in the U.S., from his one-man office in downtown Houston, set up in preparation for building more permanent Gazprom digs there.

It will be at least four years before Gazprom is fully prepared to enter the North American market. Expansion into China is a long way off, too. But as Gazprom gropes its way to fulfilling its global ambitions, it will be under the spotlight as never before. Putin has turned Gazprom into the nation's public persona--creating in the process the specter of a frightening and newly powerful Russia. This weekend at the G8 conference, the president, not [Gazprom CEO Alexi] Miller, is onstage for all the world to see. Will Russia--with its difficult and confounding history, its boom-and-bust cycles, its questionable commitment to rule of law and open markets--once again send investors stampeding for the exits?
For customers who don't want to deal with the risk of relying on Gazprom, new nuclear build ought to be an option -- just ask U.K. Prime Minister Tony Blair. For some macro-level thoughts on Russia's long-term challenges, click here.

For more from our archives about Gazprom, click here.

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