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 Neft limestone, which makes drilling difficult. Therefore, specialists are facing a more labor-intensive task. At the moment all these difficulties have been successfully overcome. Three development wells have now been constructed, successfully tested and their outputs have exceeded planned expectations. New innovative technologies are applied at Badra. Among them are: Solar panels can be another example of the usage of modern technologies. They allow the block valve station to work independently from electricity. The Badra oil field development consortium annually invests in education, medicine and other social projects in Iraq. In 2013 Gazprom Neft donated some buses to the University in