Skip to main content /WORLD /WORLD   Gazprom fact file: World
utility giant  Former Gazprom chairman Viktor Chernomyrdin
became Russia's prime minister in the 1990s    With 362,000
employees and a virtual monopoly on the country's gas
production, Russia's largest company resembles nothing less than
a city-state. It is the world's biggest gas producer, accounting
for one-quarter of global production and 23.5 percent of total
proven reserves.  More facts about Gazprom:  * It was created by
presidential decree as a joint-stock company in 1993.  * Gas
production and transmission generate 95 percent of the group's
revenues.  NTV logo NTV: Russian media battle   •  Putin accused
of NTV plot   •  Who owns what in Russia's media   •  Shrinking
free media   •  Timeline of events   •  NTV fact file   • 
Gazprom fact file   •  VIDEO: Vladimir Guskinsky interview   • 
Profile: Boris Jordan   •  Profile: Yevgeny Kiselyov   • 
Profile: Ted Turner   •  Profile: Vladimir Gusinsky  * The
company runs Russia's gas pipeline net