International Times
GAStech 

22 February 2013

It is the biggest company in Kronos, the third largest gas company on the planet, and it is fifty-three years old. In the past it has had a reputation as corrupt and environmentally harmful, but nowadays GAStech, the former Tethys-only business, is trying to earn the trust of international investors. This forms part of its ambitions to expand its profitable business supplying gas outside of the Mediterranean region.
It is an uphill task, and there is no certainty that Gastech has the ability to convince potential investors it has mended its ways, and is no longer rooted in the eco-hostile past.
GAStech's pipeline operations are based in eastern Kronos, and there is close relationship with the Kronosian government. This is the heart of Kronos's pipeline business, where gas from the eastern gas fields is piped west towards the rest of Kronos, Tethys and Europe.
GAStech does more than just pump gas. It has created towns and cities to service its operations, which it manages and runs almost single-handed.
The head of GAStech, Sten Sanjorge, Jr, whose photo stares out from calendars and picture frames everywhere in the country, acknowledges the "state within a state" accusations, but argues that the company simply needs to look after its workers and the communities around them.
Of course, people need good reasons to come and work in the hostile remote Kronosian regions. They are provided with medical care, entertainment, and food. The GAStech empire owns 2 thousand cows and 3 thousand pigs in its company farms, runs gyms, and offers subsidised holidays in Black Sea resorts for key employees. For executives, it runs a state of the art, marble-lined medical and therapy centre.
In addition to all of these perks, there is also the GAStech TV station, which doesn't even pretend to be unbiased. It's there to serve the company's will.
It hardly seems the picture of a modern global company, as most of those have unceremoniously dumped their "non-core activities". There is an argument, however, that the energy business is different from other industries, requiring energy corporations to operate in distinct ways.
Working in far-off places with no previous infrastructure means oil and gas sites will always be, to some extent, company towns. GAStech certainly strives to ensure its employees can move in and out of these locations by operating a private fleet of four planes to ferry its staff the huge distances between sites.
