Social Responsibility

Gazprom’s large-scale activities are of strategic significance for the entire country’s economic expansion and of interest for a huge number of people. This is where a variety of Gazprom Group’s crucial operating principles stem from, namely: pursuing the public interest, maximally contributing to the socioeconomic development of Russian Federation regions, stimulating a favorable business climate throughout the country and supporting worthy labor conditions, social and spiritual welfare of the people.

In this regard, the Company strives to secure the sustainable development of its business, paying great attention to both the economic and social aspects. Gazprom steadily pursues the following social responsibility principles: creating new jobs, implementing social programs for its employees, placing a focus on sponsorship and charity, taking environment and education related actions.

Year-on-year, Gazprom plays a more active role in social support projects by creating new jobs, rendering assistance to economically disadvantageous people, servicemen, veterans and invalids of the Great Patriotic War, implementing social support programs for the inhabitants of the Far North, making investments in new production and social infrastructure facilities construction throughout the Russian Federation. Just like in the past, particular attention is paid to supporting disabled children, orphans and boarding school inmates. The Company annually earmarks funds to build housing, kindergartens, health care centers, etc.

The Company strictly fulfils all its tax commitments, annually replenishing the Russian budget with over RUB 1.5 billion. Furthermore, Gazprom is consistent in gasifying Russian populated areas and yearly bringing the blue fuel to more than 300 new populated areas.

In its sponsorship and charitable activities the Company is oriented towards reviving the spiritual and national values, supporting culture, sports, education and science, contributing to the sci-tech progress as well as promoting a healthy lifestyle.

Gazprom’s Christmas and New Year festivals for children from orphan homes and orphanages of Moscow and the Moscow region have become traditional.

It has been long since Gazprom and the Russian Orthodox Church as well as other confessions started cooperation aimed at reviving the spiritual and religious traditions.

In 2008 Gazprom helped to restore the architectural and cultural monuments such as the New Jerusalem Monastery, the Saint Petersburg Orthodox Academy, the Center of Orthodox Heritage in the Peredelkino village.

Keeping the Russian educational and cultural traditions, OAO Gazprom and its foreign partners ENI and OMV supported a series of concerts, “Masterpieces amid Masterpieces”, held in the State Tretyakov Gallery – musical and poetic performances by the S.V. Rachmaninov Trio, Italian and German musicians, Russian stage directors and artists.

For the purpose of promoting moral and aesthetic development, building corporate culture, the Arts Festival was arranged under the auspices of OAO Gazprom and China National Petroleum Corporation (CNPC).

In 2008 OAO Gazprom provided assistance to such important cultural events as the concert dedicated to S.T. Richter’s anniversary, concerts of V. Spivakov, N. Petrov, O. Borodina and the I. Moiseev Folk Dance Ensemble.

In 2008 Gazprom allocated funds to maintain the Eternal Flame in the hero cities of Tula, Volgograd, Novorossiysk (Russia) and Minsk (Belarus). Assistance was rendered to the Brest Hero Fortress memorial complex (Belarus).

Since 2005 Gazprom has been supporting the corporate “Fakel” Festival aiming at traditions maintenance in multinational Russia, popularization of folk art and development of corporate culture. The amateur teams of Gazprom’s subsidiaries and partners participate in the Festival. In 2007 for the first time the Festival turned into an international event. “Fakel” laureates and Art Festival winners from China National Petroleum Corporation performed successfully in China and in Russia. Over 3 thousand people participated in the Festival in 2007.

The Company annually holds the “Fakel” Literature Festival aimed at engaging Gazprom’s employees and their families in the process of creating literary compositions in cooperation with professional writers.

Gazprom actively supports further development of the national science and is the founder of various Russian public research institutions and foundations that include the Higher Engineering Council of the Russian Federation, the V.I. Vernadsky Non-Government Ecology Fund and others.

The Company takes part in annually awarding the “Global Energy” international prize for breakthrough discoveries, inventions and solutions in the energy industry. Traditionally implemented are various projects with the I.M. Gubkin Russian State University of Oil and Gas to support and further develop higher education in Russia.

Gazprom pays special attention to the development of sports, promotion of a healthy lifestyle and actively interacts with the Russian Federal Agency for Physical Culture and Sports and sports federations. The Company annually holds summer and winter Spartakiada Games for OAO Gazprom’s subsidiary companies as part of the OAO Gazprom policy for the support of sports and physical training in Russia.

In 2008 Gazprom participated in the organization and helped to hold a lot of mass competitions. Among these were “Ski-Track of Russia”, “Cross-Country Race of the Nations”, “Orange Ball”, “Znamensky Brothers’ Memorial” and others.

Gazprom is a permanent sponsor of the Zenit Football Club and Saint Petersburg Open tennis tournament. Every year the Company provides financial support to gymnastics, volleyball and chess competitions.

The Company traditionally supports national sports federations, teams and individual sportsmen (both professionals and amateurs), as well as sports veterans.

As a traditional backer of children and youth, in 2006 Gazprom launched the largest social project – the Gazprom to Children program – and keeps sponsoring it.

The program is targeted at creating the environment for harmonious intellectual, spiritual and physical development of the young generations of Russians, promoting a healthy lifestyle among the Russian youth, engaging as many children as possible in sports activities, creative and amateur teams.

To achieve these goals, Gazprom carries out the following actions:

• construction and upgrade of sports centers and multifunctional outdoor sports grounds;
• purchase of the equipment required for sports clubs, creative and amateur teams;
• engagement of highly-skilled coaches and instructors to train children and teenagers;
• arrangement of festivals and sporting events throughout the country.

The Gazprom to Children program can be rightfully called an all-Russian project as it provided the construction and retrofitting of 555 facilities. It embraces 67 Russian regions where 33 major sports facilities and 47 cultural and sports structures have been put into operation, as well as 475 multifunctional children’s sports grounds, courts and modern football grounds with artificial covering have been built. Thus, Gazprom is pursuing one of the Company’s major goals – to engage more than 200 thousand children in sports activities.

Under the Gazprom to Children program, great efforts are also being taken to develop the creative potential of the young generation. More than RUB 600 million was allocated for the development of children’s sports and creative activities. In addition to the traditional children’s festive events in Russian regions it is projected to significantly increase the number of artistic amateur teams and clubs that will engage up to 120 thousand children. All of them will have an opportunity to try their skills within the Fakel Festival of creative amateur teams and performers annually held by Gazprom. Every year young sportsmen may prove their sports achievements at the Winter and Summer Spartakiada Games of Gazprom.

So far, over RUB 7.2 billion has been spent on the program execution, including RUB 6.6 billion on sports facilities construction and retrofitting.

Developing new oil & gas fields and constructing gas mains in the Far North, with a view to improve the employees’ operational capabilities and living standards, the Company builds the system of life support, medical and ecological, as well as social and hygienic monitoring for Gazprom Group’s employees and their family members. In order to enhance the effectiveness and accessibility of medical services, especially in field camps, the Company developed a telemedicine network.

With a view to further improving labor force related work, in 2006 Gazprom developed and endorsed the Personnel Management Policy for OAO Gazprom and its Subsidiary and Associated Companies. The Policy is aimed at establishing an efficient human resources management mechanism based on social partnership.

In order to ensure financial interest of Gazprom’s management staff in the Company’s efficient development, in 2006 Gazprom introduced a financial motivation system for the management of ОАО Gazprom and its major subsidiaries, which includes an annual bonus system and a program for allocating ОАО Gazprom’s shares as a bonus.