Alexey Miller

Alexey Miller has served as Chairman of Gazprom since 2001, appointed by Vladimir Putin whom he has known since their time together in the St. Petersburg mayor's office. Gazprom is the world's largest natural gas company, holding the monopoly on Russian pipeline gas exports and controlling the world's largest proven natural gas reserves. Gazprom Neft, the group's oil subsidiary, is one of Russia's largest oil producers. The company's decision (or Russia's decision through Gazprom) to severely curtail gas supplies to Europe — including the de facto shutdown of the Nord Stream pipeline system — triggered Europe's worst energy crisis in decades. European countries scrambled to find alternative gas supplies (primarily LNG from the US, Qatar, and others), built new LNG import terminals at emergency speed, and accelerated renewable energy deployment. Gazprom lost its largest and most profitable customer base essentially overnight. Gazprom has pivoted toward China (via the Power of Siberia pipeline and proposed Power of Siberia 2), but Chinese gas is sold at lower prices than European gas was. Western sanctions have restricted Gazprom's and Gazprom Neft's access to Western capital markets, technology (particularly upstream and LNG), and banking services.