OREANDA-NEWS. February 10, 2010. The Gazprom Headquarters hosted today a working meeting between Alexey Miller, Chairman of the Company’s Management Committee and Tapio Kuula, President and Chief Executive Officer of Fortum.

The parties addressed the key issues of the Russian-Finnish cooperation in the energy sector. A focus was placed on the prospects for implementing joint power generation projects.

The meeting participants also emphasized that Gazprom and Fortum had a considerable potential for the mutually-beneficial partnership development.

Background

Fortum corporation was established in 1998 through a merger of IVO and Neste Oyj. Nowadays, Fortum is a leading energy concern in the Northern European and Baltic countries. Its activities cover generation, distribution and marketing of heat and power, as well as operation and maintenance of the power sector companies.

In addition, Fortum is involved in heat and power generation and supply in Russia. The company’s largest Russian assets include a 94 per cent stake in OAO Fortum (TGC-10 until April 2009) and a 25 per cent stake in TGC-1.

Fortum and Gazprom hold shares in the Gasum joint venture, which acts as a wholesale trader of natural gas in Finland, as well as owns and operates a 1,030-kilometer gas grid. Gasum’s ownership structure is as follows: Gazprom – 25 per cent, Fortum – 31 per cent, Government of Finland – 24 per cent and E.ON Ruhrgas AG – 20 per cent.

Gasum and Gazprom signed the gas supply contract in 1994 and extended it through 2025 in January 2005.

According to preliminary data, in 2009 Finland was supplied with 4.4 billion cubic meters of natural gas.