The state-controlled gas giant, Gazprom, risks losing $20bn as it struggles to fulfill a deal between Russia and China to supply the enormous Asian economy with gas for the next three decades. Investigations have shown that Gazprom overestimated capacity at production sites while senior management kept information of technical setbacks quiet.
This was done, it’s suspected, because the company is under pressure to deliver on Russia’s $400bn deal with China to prevent the United States from closing a similar deal. After publicly stating ambitions to become the world’s first company with a valuation of $1 trillion in 2008, Gazprom’s rapid expansion has gone off-track. At current share prices, the company is now worth just $65bn, down from a high of more than $300bn a decade ago.
