Munich (Germany) hosted today a meeting of the Industry and Construction Committee under the European Business Congress (EBC) devoted to comprehensive security during hydrocarbons production, transportation, storage and processing.

Opening the meeting Oleg Aksyutin, Chairman of the EBC Industry and Construction Committee, Member of the Gazprom Management Committee, Head of the Company’s Gas Transportation, Underground Storage and Utilization Department noted:

“Gazprom deals with natural gas – the most environmentally friendly fuel compared to other fossil energy sources. Meanwhile, a prioritized objective for our Company is ensuring the safety of production processes and large gas transmission projects construction. Thus, minimization of environmental and technological risks is Gazprom’s top priority.

We hope that sharing the appropriate experience with our European partners will allow us to make a contribution to safe operation of the gas industry on the entire European continent.”

During the meeting the participants discussed the largest technogenic accidents in the oil and gas sector (platforms explosion in the North Sea, Gulf of Mexico etc.) as well as the measures required to eliminate a possibility of such accidents in future.

Special attention was paid to ensuring safety in the offshore gas pipelines construction and operation, particularly when designing South Stream.

After the meeting the participants got acquainted with the equipment production at the premises of Bauer Kompressoren and visited Europe’s largest research center of General Electric where they obtained information on the innovative projects of the company.

Background:

The European Business Congress (EBC) comprises 117 companies from 23 OSCE member states including such prominent corporations and banks as Gazprom, ExxonMobil, Daimler Chrysler, Siemens, Shell, ConocoPhillips, Total, Deutsche Bank, Dresdner Bank, Alcatel, Wintershall, E.ON Ruhrgas, GDF SUEZ and others. EBC Secretariat is headquartered in Berlin.

EBC deals with economic cooperation issues in Europe and brings forward proposals for debottlenecking and building a safe and favorable environment for entrepreneurial activities. EBC operates through seven Working Committees for: Energy; Industry and Construction; Law, Banking and Finance; Information and Communications; Ecology and Healthcare; Human Resources, Education and Science; Business Security.