Oil & Gas industry Two top executives depart Gazprom Chief of Russian gas group likely to remain in charge until pipeline projects are completed February 25, 2019 12:29 pm by Nastassia Astrasheuskaya in Moscow Russia’s state-owned gas giant Gazprom saw the departure of two top executives and the reshuffling of a third on Monday. Deputy chairmen of the management committee Alexander Medvedev and Valery Golubev will leave the company, while Vsevolod Cherepanov, head of the production department, will move to another role, the country’s biggest gas producer said. Gazprom did not indicate who might succeed the men. Chief executive Alexei Miller, who has headed Russia’s pipeline gas export monopoly since 2001, looks like he will keep his job, said analysts. He is unlikely to be replaced until the company completes the strategic pipeline projects planned by the end of this year, said one Moscow-based analyst. The changes follow several lay-offs among the company’s regional management over accusations of money laundering. In the most prominent money-laundering case, Raul Arashukov, an adviser to the head of a Gazprom subsidiary, was detained on an allegation of stealing Rbs30bn ($460m) worth of gas. His son Rauf Arashukov was also detained. Father and son deny the allegations and remain in detention. While this money-laundering case is unlikely to have led to Monday’s top executive departures, it adds to the unsettled atmosphere at the gas producer. “We are talking about full-scale changes,” a London-based analyst said of the executive departures. “It is unlikely they were linked to the Arashukovs’ case. “But perhaps this case simply exhausted the patience at the top regarding the company’s management.” The company did not comment on the reasons for the changes. A Moscow-based investment analyst said: “This is a purely technical step. Medvedev had not taken part in the company’s operations for a while and was expected to leave. Golubev was expected to retire due to age, and Cherepanov will undergo an internal change, which is not uncommon at Gazprom.” Another analyst from a Moscow-based bank said the regional lay-offs have nothing to do with Mr Miller, who was placed under US sanctions last year. “All these were not Miller’s people.” Mr Medvedev, who headed the company’s export subsidiary, Gazprom Export, for 12 years until 2014 and then served as deputy chairman of the management committee, will step down to focus on Zenit football club and the International Business Congress. He was appointed head and director-general of the St Petersburg club on Friday. International Business Congress is an international non-governmental, non-commercial organisation with 122 member companies from around the world, including Gazprom. It deals with economic issues and works out proposals to remove barriers in doing business, including in energy and industry. A Gazprom spokesman said replacements will be announced in due course, according to Russian media. Gazprom did not respond to a request for further comment from the FT.