Russ Oil-Gas

30 January 2008 - Upstream OnLine - Russian gas giant Gazprom said today it was closing the list of nominations to its board, while a source close to the company said Prime Minister Viktor Zubkov was among those put forward, with the chairman's post looking set to become vacant after the country's March presidential elections. Gazprom's current chairman, First Deputy Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev, is the favourite to become Russia's next President after March elections, meaning the top Gazprom job will become vacant. Speculation about who will succeed him is intense. "Zubkov is on the list. Putin is not," the source told Reuters, confirming reports by Russian news agencies which quoted a government source as saying Zubkov - a former head of Russia's financial intelligence - may chair Gazprom after June's shareholder meeting. The news followed a report in the Kommersant business daily, which resurrected an often-heard rumour that Vladimir Putin would chair Gazprom himself after he leaves the Kremlin following presidential elections in March. A Gazprom spokesman declined to comment on potential board candidates. These are nominated by the state, which controls Gazprom, and minority shareholders such as Germany's Ruhrgas. "Today is the last day to submit applications. It will close at six o'clock," he said declining to disclose the number of contenders for an 11-seat board. Kommersant said the list was unusually long and included 42 names this year. Gazprom's daily operations are run by chief executive Alexei Miller but Medvedev as chairman has blessed all major deals signed between Gazprom and Western governments and companies. Russian media have earlier speculated that energy minister Viktor Khristenko or former Prime Minister Mikhail Fradkov could also get the top job. Current Gazprom chairman Medvedev is widely expected to win the presidential elections. He enjoys Putin's strong support, is way ahead of all rivals in pre-election opinion polls and gets blanket coverage from state-run media. Putin's selection of Medvedev as his successor prompted some analysts to suggest the rivalry between Kremlin clans would come to its end after the elections. Medvedev, who is widely seen as a standard-bearer for the Kremlin's liberal wing, is often pitted against the so-called "siloviki" or hardliners, whose unofficial leader is often cited as the Kremlin's deputy chief of staff Igor Sechin. Sechin also chairs state-run oil producer Rosneft . Other market insiders have suggested that Putin might want to maintain rivalry between the two groups after the election and allow Sechin a tighter grip on the economy as Medvedev will gain more political influence as president. Zubkov is occasionally cited as an ally of Sechin, although most analysts and insiders argue he does not belong to any Kremlin clan and is simply personally loyal to Putin, Reuters reported.