OREANDA-NEWS. December 23, 2008.   The Board has approved the main principles of the financial strategy pursued by the Company in order to maintain a stable financial status in the environment of a crisis at the global financial markets. The Management Committee has been entrusted to ensure the implementation of the strategy.

Background:

Implementation of the anti-crisis strategy will allow Gazprom to keep up a sufficient cash flow in order to retain the Company’s liquidity, to fulfill the schedule of financing for the main projects of the Gazprom Group, as well as to maintain the efficiency and profitability of its core activities at a high level. In addition, the implementation of the strategy will facilitate maintenance of the Company’s strategic targets at the required level.

Against the background of a global financial crisis, the key directions for optimizing the activities of Gazprom are as follows:
approval of the 2009 Budget and clarification of conditions for the 2010-2011 Budget;
selection of high-priority projects for the Investment Program;
establishment of a centralized liquidity management system;
working capital management;
efficient debt management;
financial risks management.

As for the 2009 Budget adoption and clarification of conditions for the 2010-2011 Budget, the main principles of the anti-crisis financial strategy include the preparation of several versions of the draft budget (based on various oil price and sales volume scenarios, etc).

In respect to high-priority projects for the Investment Program, the main principles, in particular, involve ranking the objects for investments within the projects to be financed in 2009-2011 and reductions in the budget line entitled as ”Long-Term Financial Investments”.

Regarding the creation of a centralized liquidity management system, the main principles envisage mobilizing the Company’s internal resources and imposing restrictions on the volume of borrowings, as well as improving the quality of management for the temporarily free cash flows.

The main principles of the anti-crisis financial strategy related to the working capital management include measures of increasing the rate of return on debt receivable and minimized "freezing" of liquid assets of the Gazprom Group. These measures encompass enhancing the payment discipline among the gas buyers from the former Soviet Union, expanding the application of advanced methods of payment for gas supplies to the domestic consumers, as well as optimizing the commodity procurement activities.

In the environment of a bank liquidity crisis, the main principles for debt management include the utmost use of internal resources to finance the Gazprom Group needs and strengthening the control over the borrowings of the Group in such sectors as power generation, petroleum, etc.

The main principles of the anti-crisis financial strategy in respect to financial risks management involve the establishment and monitoring of the risk limits for the credit entities serving the Gazprom Group and the creation of conditions to facilitate the Company’s risks hedging.