As reported by The Financial Times, Gazprom recently set out a vaulting vision of its future status as the world’s most powerful energy company.  As the article notes:

“…Alexey Miller told the Financial Times that the world was undergoing “a great surge in oil and gas prices . . . which will end with prices at a radically new level”.

He added that even Opec had no real influence on prices. “Not a single decision has been passed of late that would really influence the global oil market.”

Mr Miller continued: “In the coming years Gazprom will be not just a major company in the world, but the most influential in the energy business,” adding that its target was to reach a market capitalisation of $1,000bn.

He also said inter­national energy companies should invest in Russia only alongside state-controlled companies, such as Gazprom, if they wanted to succeed. He stressed that the Russian market was increasingly attractive to Gazprom as domestic gas prices rose, but also talked of plans for expansion in the Americas, Asia, Europe and Africa. “We see North America as a region of our strategic interests,” he said, arguing that Gazprom was “creating a new configuration of gas supplies” to the US and Canada.

Gazprom hopes to serve the North American market from 2014 with liquefied natural gas from its proposed Shtokman project off Russia’s north coast.

“We are currently assessing several options of accessing the North American market,” he said, adding that Gazprom had received “many interesting proposals” from Canadian companies. He also confirmed that Gazprom was interested in the proposed Alaska gas pipeline.

Mr Miller said Gazprom was “quite close” to deals in Nigeria on joint ventures for production, gas utilisation to avoid flaring, and electricity generation. It also hopes to join in building a gas pipeline for exports from Nigeria.

But competition for gas and other energy resources was growing, he said, and stood by his prediction that the price of oil would hit $250 a barrel next year.

He also warned that Russian domestic demand was an increasingly potent destination for Gazprom’s production.

“Europe and Asia [have] encountered a new, powerful competitor, which is the Russian domestic market,” he said.”