Gazprom members, such as Chernomyrdin and the Gazprom Chief Executive Officer, Rem Viakhirev, engaged in asset-stripping. Gazprom assets were shared amongst their relatives. Itera, a gas trading company also received Gazprom assets. In March 1998, for reasons unrelated to his activities at Gazprom, Chernomyrdin was fired by Yeltsin. On 30 June 1998, Chernomyrdin was made Chairman of the Board of Directors of Gazprom. When, in June 2000, Vladimir Putin became the President of Russia, he acted to gain control over Russia's oligarchs, and increase the Government of Russia's control in important companies through a program of national champions. Putin fired Chernomyrdin
Gazprom to be , with potential to increase to . The Shtokman field is one of the world's largest natural gas fields. It is located in the central part of the Barents Sea, northeast of the city of Murmansk and west of the Yamal Peninsula. The field is estimated to contain up to of gas. Potential production is in the initial phases, with a potential increase to . Gazprom, Total (France) and Statoil (Norway) created a joint company Shtokman Development AG for development of the field. On 8 April 2013, in Amsterdam, Alexey Miller, Chairman of the Gazprom Management Committee and