But Mr. Miller confirmed Gazprom’s interest in the acquisition of stakes in the country’s largest energy companies. He said Gazprom’s strategy was to build a multi-industry energy company. According to Mr. Miller, Gazprom is planning to continue business diversification and expand its energy business after its merger with Rosneft is completed.

Mr. Miller said Gazrom controlled more than 10 percent of RAO Unified Energy Systems of Russia, and it had a «significant» stake in OAO Mosenergo. According to Gazprom’s investment memorandum, its subsidiary bank Gazprombank purchased a 15.76 percent stake in Mosenergo for RUR 10.9bn in May 2003, and it acquired a 5.3 percent stake in RAO UES for RUR 19.8bn in January 2004. Later, Gazprombank’s stake in Mosenergo was purchased by the private pension fund Gazfond, part of the Gazprom group. Analysts say Gazprom controls about 25 percent of Mosenergo.

The appraisers for Gazprom and Rosneft assets would be announced on October 7, Mr. Miller said. He said two investment banks would be chosen to monitor the appraisal. According to Mr. Miller, Rosneft will become Gazprom’s subsidiary, and work is underway to create the company Gazpromneft, which will include Rosneft. «It will be a company with a single balance sheet and consolidated budget,» the Gazprom CEO noted. Stock traders expect that Dresdner Kleinwort Wasserstein, which is now evaluating YUKOS’s key production subsidiary Yuganskneftegaz, will be chosen to appraise the assets of Gazprom and Rosneft.

On October 4, Mr. Miller sent a letter to Rosneft President Sergey Bogdanchikov, asking him to provide a number of documents, including the copies of founding documents, Board of Director decisions, Rosneft President’s regulations and decrees, as well as other corporate documents. Gazprom also needs the copies of Rosneft’s contracts and licenses. Gazprom officials said they needed the documents to develop a detailed integration scheme.

Meanwhile, Moody's Investors Service has placed on review for possible upgrade Gazprombank's Ba2 long-term foreign currency deposit rating. At the same time Moody's has placed for review the possible upgrade of the Ba2 rating of the EMTN program of Gazinvest Finance B.V. that is unconditionally and irrevocably guaranteed by Gazprombank. This action follows the announcement by Moody's of placing the ratings of Gazprom on review for possible upgrade.

According to Moody's, expected support from Gazprom was the main determinant for placing the bank's ratings on review for possible upgrade; Gazprombank is playing an important role in the strategy of its parent, Gazprom. The businesses of the two entities are closely linked and are likely to remain so in the future. This is despite Gazprombank's recent initiatives to somewhat diversify its customer base. The rating is based on the majority ownership of the bank by Gazprom and the high probability of support in case of need, as demonstrated on several occasions in the past.