"We have orders for increased gas supplies from the Netherlands and Denmark. This means that gas has a promising future," said Medvedev, who heads Gazprom's export arm Gazprom export.
Earlier this week Gazprom's head of Foreign Relations Department Stanislav Tsygankov said the company maintained its plan to increase gas exports to Europe, its largest export market, to 180 bcm per year by 2020, adding that 2010 gas exports would be at last year's level or nearly 140 bcm.
Consumers in Europe, where the economic slowdown has slashed gas consumption, are bargaining for a lower gas price on long-term agreements with Gazprom, citing cheaper fuel on spot markets, and the company cannot get the lucrative deals it had about five years ago.
Last winter, Gazprom, which supplies a quarter of the European Union's gas needs, offered some European clients a spot pricing element in their deals to stimulate volumes, but the company said it had recently stopped offering them.
Tsygankov has said Gazprom expected European demand to return to pre-crisis levels by 2012.
