vlad.tribnet.com / Issue #544 / Business / Reading article...

The Russian state monopoly Gazprom signed on Wednesday a five-year agreement with Primorye’s administration in an effort to pump up the region’s zero natural liquefied gas usage in answer to an expected need of about 2.85 billion cubic meters in 2010.

According to the agreement, signed by Primorye’s Governor Sergei Darkin and Gazprom deputy CEO Alexander Ananenkov, the transportation of gas to Primorye will start in 2010, with the Sakhalin-1 and Sakhalin-2 project gas fields serving as the resource base.



Primorye became the third region in the Russian Far East after Sakhalin and Khabarovsk where Gazprom arrived with their natural gas initiatives. These agreements are part of Gazprom’s so-called Eastern program, which implies creating a unified system of gas extraction and transportation and, according to Ananenkov, is expected to be endorsed by the federal government by the end of this December.

The program’s first stage envisages the construction of the pipeline Sakhalin-Khabarovsk-Vladivostok. The pipeline section from Sakhalin to Khabarovsk has already been constructed, Ananenkov said, and the link between Khabarovsk and Vladivostok is planned to be built by 2010.

With Primorye remaining one of the few regions in Russia not provided with natural gas, the project is expected to prove advantageous, Primorye officials said.

“We expect that gas will provide for about 40 to 45 percent of the region’s energy needs,” Darkin said at a briefing after signing the agreement.

Being twice as cheap as coal and four times less expensive than diesel oil, natural gas can down the production costs in Primorye by 10 percent, Darkin noted.

A general plan for the introduction of gas into this region will be worked out by Primorye’s administration and Gazprom officials during the next six months.

The plan should include developing the investments towards the gas project, designing an energy-saving scheme for Primorye as well as creating a program for introducing gas into local automobile and agriculture industries.

Primorye’s natural gas provisions will boost the appearance of new businesses in gas processing and chemical production, Darkin said. Lower tariffs for electricity are likely to be introduced.

According to the estimates of Primorye officials, the demand for natural gas in the region in 2010 will amount to 2.85 billion cubic meters, and in the following five years it may grow to 4 billion cubic meters.

The present agreement resulted from a cooperative agreement which Darkin and Gazprom CEO Alexei Miller had signed in December 2005.