BASF AG and Russia-based OAO Gazprom have officially launched production operations at the Russian natural gas field Yuzhno Russkoye. This is the first time that a Germany-based company has been directly involved in the production of natural gas in West Siberia. In an official ceremony at the Gazprom headquarters in Moscow, Alexey B. Miller, Chairman of the Board of Executive Directors of OAO Gazprom, and Eggert Voscherau, Vice Chairman of the Board of Executive Directors of BASF, pressed the button to launch production operations at the Yuzhno Russkoye gas field together with Dmitry A. Medvedev, First Deputy Prime Minister of the Russian Federation and Chairman of the Supervisory Board of OAO Gazprom, and the Germany Foreign Minister, Frank-Walter Steinmeier. Shortly beforehand, the completion of work at the gas field was confirmed in a live broadcast from Siberia.
