A formal date of the FIEF establishment is October 18, 2004, when the first meeting of its founders — Gazprombank and Gazprom Export (at that time Gazexport) — took place in Moscow.
The Institute actually began work a year later, in the fall of 2005, when its initial team was formed. Leonid Markovich Grigoriev headed the economic research direction of the Institute and became its first President (2004–2011), Vladimir Isaakovich Feigin headed the energy research direction and subsequently became the second President of the Institute (2011–2020).
The Institute was located on the street. Myasnitskaya, 22. Later it moved to Arkhangelsky lane, 6, bldg. 1, and in March 2020, got his third address in Potapovskiy lane, 5, bldg. 4. All these houses are within walking distance from each other.
The Institute has been created as an independent think tank in the field of solving applied and pressing problems of economic and energy policy of Russia and its different regions, providing analytical support to corporate clients, as well as for actively developing and maintaining ties with international expert community.
In addition to the founders of the Institute, there are the Russian Ministry of Energy, major oil companies, the Eurasian Economic Commission and others among our customers. FIEF has played an important role in maintaining and developing the Energy Dialogue of Russia with the EU countries, China, OPEC, GECF at the expert level. It became the main elaborator of the draft General scheme of the Russian oil industry development up to 2035 and the Concept for formation of the EAEU common gas market. A unique project of creating an integrated interconnected system of models for the strategic development of the Russian oil industry was implemented on the basis of the institute in 2015–2017.
In addition to energy topics, FIEF carried out a whole range of work in various sectors of the economy, from machinery to agriculture; research of financial markets and monetary policy has developed into a separate direction.
On the personal initiative of Vladimir Feigin, since 2015, the Institute has been organizing major international congress and exhibition events in the oil and gas industry, risk management and human resources development in energy industry, including the International Forum of Innovative Solutions and Technologies for Oil&Gas Industry «Exploration, Production, Processing» (EPP Forum). Among other things, FIEF has become a permanent partner of the Black Sea Economic Cooperation Organization (BSEC) in the analysis and discussion of risks in the energy sector. In May 2017, FIEF in collaboration with the International Energy Forum (IEF) organized and hosted the 2nd International IEF Symposium on HR Management «Implications of a New Market Environment and Energy Transition», Manama, Bahrain.