MOSCOW, April 25 (RIA Novosti) - Gazprom's deputy chairman said Tuesday the company's market capitalization would rise to $1 trillion in the next 10-15 years, or more than four times its current $240 billion.
Alexander Medvedev told a session at the ninth Russian Economic Forum in London that the Russian energy giant now ranks sixth among the world's largest public companies, and third among publicly traded oil and gas companies.
"Gazprom's capitalization is $240 billion, whether we calculate it in terms of American Depositary Receipts or local shares, since the spread between them is less than 2%, and for this reason we cannot calculate the company's average weighted capitalization," he said.
He said future growth in capitalization would be due to increasing operative efficiency, improvements in labor productivity, and consolidation of the company's oil and energy business.
Gazprom's capitalization has been steadily rising since the government removed the "ring fence" from around the company that had prevented foreigners from owning common stock in the company.