To celebrate the event, Gérard Mestrallet and Pierre Chareyre invited more than a hundred of the Group’s Russian partners to an exceptional reception at the Residence of the French Ambassador in Moscow, in the presence of Ambassador Sylvie Bermann and leaders of Gazprom.

Since the inauguration of our office in 1992, our Group has progressively established itself in Russia. As well as negotiating energy purchase and sale contracts (long-term gas contracts, transport, storage, regasification) ENGIE also intends to develop activities in energy efficiency, renewable energy and innovative urban solutions foreshadowing the cities of tomorrow.

Since the signature of the first long-term gas contracts in 1975, the strategic partnership that unites Gazprom with ENGIE has become a cornerstone of the Franco-Russian relationship. It now accounts for more than one seventh of bilateral trade between France and Russia. Over the years, the share of long-term gas supplies from Russia in the ENGIE portfolio has increased. In 2017, Russia, which was following closely behind Norway a few years ago, took the leading position in terms of volumes of gas supplied for ENGIE’s long-term provisions within Europe.

Gérard Mestrallet congratulated the teams who are hard at work every day consolidating this lasting commercial and industrial relationship, declaring: “The model of energy transition that we support in our activities all over the world cannot do without renewable energy’s best friend: gas. This model of energy transition has also led ENGIE to diversify its presence and its partnerships with Russia in recent years. In parallel with the development of gas, ENGIE’s physical presence in Russia has expanded into engineering and energy efficiency services (…) to meet the main energy challenges facing the country: the renovation of heating networks, decentralized electricity generation, renewable energy and energy efficiency services.”

On this occasion, Pierre Chareyre and Alexandre Bespalov, Communication Director of Gazprom, signed an agreement renewing the 15-year partnership between our two Groups in the field of culture and communication.