Owners of as much as 88.46% of the company's shares have registered to vote on decisions such as approving the company's annual report for 2006, electing an auditing committee, appointing an auditor for 2007 and approving dividends for 2006.
The board of directors has proposed approving PriceWaterhouseCoopers Audit to examine its accounts and recommended paying 2.54 rubles ($0.1) per share in 2006 dividends before December 31, which is 69% higher than in 2005.
Gazprom CEO Alexei Miller will not be attending the meeting following renal surgery this month, but he has proactively participated in the company's management by telephone, Deputy CEO Alexander Medvedev said.
Another deputy, Alexander Ananenkov, announced at the meeting that Gazprom obtained 32 mineral use licenses in 2006, including nine for Central Asia.
He said the company produced 556 billion cubic meters of natural gas, or 84.7% of the country's total output. Gazprom reserves increased 723 billion cubic meters to 29.85 trillion cubic meters.
The natural gas monopoly discovered three gas condensate fields, one oil field and 30 hydrocarbon deposits in 2006.
Along with expanding production, the company is planning to increase the refining of gas and oil by its subsidiary Gazprom Neft, which holds 2.6 billion metric tons of liquid hydrocarbons in reserves.
Oil and condensate output was 45.4 million tons in 2006.
Ananenkov also said Gazprom Marketing and Trading Ltd, a subsidiary managing Gazprom's overseas activity, is set to enlarge its presence on European electricity markets.
"The company is planning electricity expansion in France, the Netherlands, Belgium, Ireland and Germany," the report says.
Gazprom Marketing and Trading Ltd holds stakes in a number of European electricity enterprises, and its first deal for electricity supplies was clinched in October 2006.
Gazprom has also been developing trade in quotas on carbon dioxide emissions in Europe since its first deal in the field was reached in November 2006.
