Gazprom Drops Senior Executives

Russian gas giant Gazprom announced February 25 that it has dismissed two senior executives and reassigned a third, in a major reshuffle at the upper echelons.

The casualties include deputy chairmen Alexander Medvedev, deputy CEO Valery Golubev and Vsevolod Cherepanov, head of the production department, Gazprom said, the first two dismissals being ahead of the planned departure date.

Medvedev has been relieved of his post as deputy chairman of the management board. The former head of the state-controlled company’s export arm Gazprom Export, he has played major roles in European-orientated projects including Nord Stream 1 and 2 and the trading house RosUkrenergo.

Although he holds no formal role at Gazprom, Medvedev will now focus on the International Business Congress, an NGO that features major companies from across the globe as members. He will also concentrate on the Zenit football club, in St Petersburg, of which he was made director-general February 22. Aleksandr Dyukov, current head of oil-arm Gazprom Neft, was elected Russian Football Union president the same day.

Golubev will depart his position as deputy chairman of the management committee, which he has held since 2006. Gazprom will announce new appointments to replace deputy chairmen Medvedev and Golubev “in due course,” a spokesman told Reuters.

Cherepanov has been relieved of his post as head of department 307: the department of gas, gas condensate and oil production. He will move to a different position at the Gazprom Group. 

Medvedev was re-elected deputy chairman in September 2017 and Golubev in June 2018, both for five years.