Gazprom for vouchers. Fifteen percent of the stock was allocated to Gazprom employees. The state retained 40% of the shares. That amount was gradually lowered to thirty-eight percent. Trading of Gazprom's shares was heavily regulated. Foreigners were prohibited from owning more than nine-percent of the shares. In October 1996, 1% of Gazprom's equity was offered for sale to foreigners as Global Depository Receipts. In 1997, Gazprom offered a bond issue of US$2.5 billion. Chernomyrdin, as Prime Minister of Russia, ensured Gazprom avoided tight state regulation. Gazprom evaded taxes, and the Government of Russia received little in dividends. Gazprom managers and board
Gazprom Neft Gazprom Neft Novy Port with Gazprom Neft as the operator of the project. In spring 2011, Gazprom Neft confirmed the viability of year-round supply from the field by sea. The Novoportovskoye field will be developed in two phases, first focussing on the southern part of the field where peak production will reach 5 mln tonnes of oil per year. The second phase will look at the northern part of the field, where peak production is expected to reach 3 mln tonnes of oil per year. The Messoyakha Group of oil and gas fields consists of the West-Messoyakha and East-Messoyakha sites.