Gazprom chief says firm to be top in world -- FT
LONDON, June 27 (Reuters) - Gazprom's chief Alexei Miller was quoted on Friday as saying the Russian company would become the world's most powerful energy business and that the OPEC oil cartel had in effect lost control of the market.
The world was undergoing "a great surge in oil and gas prices ... which will end with prices at a radically new level", Miller said in an interview with the Financial Times that was carried on the newspaper's website.
Miller, Gazprom's (GAZP.MM) acting chairman and chief executive, said even OPEC had no real influence on prices.
"Not a single decision has been passed of late that would really influence the global oil market," he said.
On his vision for the company, Miller said: "In the coming years Gazprom will be not just a major company in the world, but the most influential in the energy business."
Gazprom's target was to reach a market capitalisation of $1,000 billion, he said.
Miller said international energy companies should invest in Russia only alongside state-controlled companies, such as Gazprom, if they wanted to succeed.
The Financial Times said Miller stressed the Russian market was increasingly attractive to Gazprom as domestic gas prices rose, but that he also talked of plans for expansion in the Americas, Asia, Europe and Africa.
"We see North America as a region of our strategic interests," said Miller, adding that Gazprom was "creating a new configuration of gas supplies" to the United States and Canada.
Gazprom hoped to serve the North American market from 2014 with liquefied natural gas from its proposed Shtokman project off Russia's north coast, said Miller.
"We are currently assessing several options of accessing the North American market," he said.
Miller said Gazprom had received "many interesting proposals" from Canadian companies and that it was interested in a proposed Alaska gas pipeline.
Competition for gas and other energy resources was growing, he said, and stood by his prediction that the price of oil would hit $250 a barrel next year.
He said Russian domestic demand was an increasingly potent destination for Gazprom's production.
"Europe and Asia (have) encountered a new, powerful competitor, which is the Russian domestic market, he said.
(Editing by Kim Coghill)
