Gazprom Boris Yeltsin, the Russian President, appointed Chernomyrdin, Gazprom's Chairman, his Prime Minister, the company's political influence increased. Rem Viakhirev took the chairmanship of Gazprom's Board of Directors and Managing Committee. Following the Decree of the President of the Russian Federation of 5 November 1992 and the Resolution of the Government of Russia of 17 February 1993, Gazprom became a joint-stock company. Gazprom began to distribute shares under the voucher method. (Each Russian citizen received vouchers to purchase shares of formerly state-owned companies). By 1994, 33% of Gazprom's shares had been bought by 747,000 members of the public, mostly in exchange
Gazprom Neft Messoyakhaneftegas, an equally owned joint venture with TNK-BP, holds the licenses for both blocks with Gazprom Neft as operator. The recoverable C1+C2 reserves of both blocks total 620 million tonnes of primarily heavy oil. The fields were discovered in the 1980s and are the most northern-located onshore Russian fields. The Messoyakha oil and gas fields are located on the Gydan Peninsula in the Tazovsky District of the Yamalo-Nenets Autonomous Area - an Arctic climate zone with undeveloped infrastructure. By 2020 the Messoyakha fields are expected to be producing 8 mln tonnes per year with the first million produced by 2016.