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The world’s largest natural gas producer is concerned that its ability to trade gas in the EU, by far its most important export market, could be curbed or made more costly as a result of remaining in London, according to two people with knowledge of the company’s thinking.
“Running our European trading operations out of London is not advantageous any longer,” said one of the people, who declined to be identified as the review process is not public. “We have to look at the impact and our options.” [...]
The office in London has become its de facto EU headquarters, according to executives. The company runs all of its European natural gas and LNG portfolio trading through the London operation, which also trades oil and oil products, power, carbon and foreign exchange for its Russian parent.
The company also has a subsidiary in Manchester, Gazprom Energy, which sells gas to industrial and commercial clients in the UK. This is not thought to be affected by the review.
In a statement, Gazprom’s deputy head of management committee Alexander Medvedev declined to comment on the review but said the operations of Gazprom’s marketing and trading arm “are not affected by Brexit”.
A departure would add to a growing list of Russian companies retreating from London, which a decade ago was the western European business city of choice for Russian executives looking to raise capital, list companies or build a secondary management team outside of the country. [...]
Full article on Financial Times (subscription required)