Gazprombank brought the 46 percent stake in Eriell in December 2011, but the information emerged only on Tuesday with the publication of the bank’s annual report. Founded in 1999, Eriell provides oil and gas exploration and drilling support services, predominantly to clients operating in the former Soviet Union.

Gazprom’s statement that it wants to bypass Ukraine for all its natural gas exports to the West put a question mark over the value of Czech gas pipeline company Net4Gas, one of whose main pieces of infrastructure is the Soviet-era pipeline bringing gas through Slvoakia and Ukraine. German power giant RWE is mulling whether to offload Net4Gas as part of debt reduction moves, but Gazprom intention’s are clearly a key factor in the final price.

KKCG, the gas and oil company of Czech billionaire Karel Komárek, is reported to be on the verge of taking a stake of just over 16 percent in Vemex, the Czech gas importer and reseller indirectly owned by Russian gas giant Gazprom. The deal is seen helping his Russian oil and gas expansion plans.

Gas transmission system operators (TSOs) in Austria, Bavaria, Slovenia and the Czech Republic are mapping customer interest in a potential pipeline which would deliver compressed gas from sea ports in Italy to the CEE region over the Alps. The project is in the initial phase while several other pipeline routes to interconnect the Czech gas network with the Austrian network are still being considered.