In late 2021, European countries faced an alarming surge in natural gas prices. The world's leading media immediately started to express concerns about a global energy crisis. Against this background, the world community shifted its focus to the leading players in the oil market. European consumers began to follow the news, reports, and pricing strategies of the largest gas companies, including Russian holding Gazprom.

Today, we will tell you about this energy giant and the prospects for its further development. It is time to get acquainted with the history and achievements of one of the world's leading companies as well as speculate about the attractiveness of its securities to investors.

History of Gazprom

Gazprom is the Russian state-controlled gas monopoly focused on production, processing, and sales of natural gas. The top areas of the company’s activity are the development of new gas fields, oil production, as well as the supply of crude to consumers from Russia and the far abroad countries. The firm's assets are part of two large holdings - Gazprom Media and Gazprom Neft.

Gazprom was founded in 1989 when the country's authorities decided to unite all the gas enterprises of the Soviet Union into one global corporation. Already in the early 1990s, in addition to gas production, the young company was engaged in the construction of gas pipelines, geological exploration, and the supply of raw materials abroad.

In late 1992, State Gas Concern Gazprom was transformed into a Russian joint stock company, thus making the state an owner of 40% of the company's securities.

However, six years later, it was reorganised into an open joint stock company (OJSC). In 2005, the authorities passed new legislation to control at least 50% of Gazprom stock. Later, the company saw a dramatic rise in profit. Already in 2009, Gazprom was ranked 36th among the world's largest corporations in terms of market capitalization according to the Financial Times. In 2011, in another Forbes ranking, the company occupied the 15th position in the list of the world’s 2,000 leading companies, whose securities were quoted on stock exchanges.

Nowadays, Gazprom is one of the world’s leading gas corporations with the largest gas transmission system. Its share in the global and Russian reserves amounts to 20% and 90% respectively. In addition, Gazprom ranks first in the world in terms of thermal energy generation.

Gazprom stock

If you are already wondering how and where to buy Gazprom stock, now is the time to answer this question.

The company's securities are listed on two Russian trading floors: the Moscow and St. Petersburg stock exchanges. Gazprom shares are among the most liquid instruments on the Moscow Exchange, with the daily turnover accounting for one fifth of the total trading volume. In addition, Gazprom shares are traded on the London, Berlin, and Frankfurt stock exchanges, as well as the OTC markets in the United States.

Currently, just over 50% of Gazprom shares are under control of the government, 16.71% of securities are owned by holders of American Depositary Receipts (ADRs), and the remaining 33.06% stake in the company belongs to market investors.

In order to purchase Gazprom stock, you need to open a trading account with a brokerage company that provides access to the world's largest stock markets. This procedure does not usually take long. For instance, it will take you only 3 minutes to register an account with InstaForex.

The minimum trade size is 1 lot that is equal to 1 company share. To calculate your possible income, use a Trader's calculator on the InstaForex website.

Then, you can safely start selling and buying securities of Gazprom or any other popular companies. The popular MT4 platform by InstaForex will become your perfect trading assistant.

Gazprom shares can also be bought or sold at Gazprombank, the authorized financial institution of the holding. This option is an excellent way out for investors who are going to invest exclusively in Gazprom shares and hold them for as long as possible. Along with the acquired securities, the new shareholder receives a personal bank account, to which dividends will subsequently be accrued.

Stock dividends

Gazprom regularly pays dividends to its shareholders. In the early years of the company, returns were symbolic. Thus, in 1995, one security brought its holders only 0.02 rubles.

However, as Gazprom expanded its presence in the market, the amount of dividend payments increased as well. In 2012, shareholders received 8.97 rubles of dividends per share.

The gas giant's current policy on payments to shareholders was approved by the Board of Directors in 2019. In 2020, under the new regulation, the company put 40% of its adjusted net profit into dividend payments. From the end of this year, Gazprom's management plans to increase dividends to at least 50% of net profit.

The exact amount of payments is determined annually by the company’s Board of Directors. In addition, their size depends on a number of macroeconomic and geopolitical factors*.

Gazprom's dividends are credited to the shareholder's brokerage or bank account within 25 days from the time when the amount of payments is determined.

Gazprom shares are classified as ordinary securities. This means that their owner has the right to participate in the company's affairs and attend shareholder meetings. However, in order to have a significant impact on Gazprom’s activities, a shareholder must own a sufficiently large block of shares.

The latest events related to Gazprom and the state of the gas industry around the world are available in real time in a special analytics section on the InstaForex website.

Conclusion

If you have long been planning to invest in a reliable Russian company, Gazprom is one of the best options. Today, the company is considered to be the driver of the Russian economy.

At the moment, Gazprom has enough resources to withstand even unforeseen external factors that could only lead to an insignificant decline in shares. Such stability makes the gas giant attractive to investors.

By the way, the long-term outlook for Gazprom is very optimistic. According to energy market experts, the company's shares have every chance of extending gains. Besides, market analysts recommend that investors include this company in their long-term equity portfolios.

If all of the above has prompted you to become part of Gazprom by investing in its securities, go to the InstaForex website and register a trading account in just a few minutes.