The Company’s expert group led by Alexander Ananenkov, Deputy Chairman of the Gazprom Management Committee finished its trip to the Far Eastern regions.

Lately, the expert group visited and assessed the progress with constructing the Sakhalin – Khabarovsk – Vladivostok gas transmission system (GTS) facilities: the main compressor station (MCS) in Sakhalin, the two-string crossing over the Nevelskoy Strait and the MCS –Komsomolsk-on-Amur line pipe.

Khabarovsk hosted today a meeting devoted to the Sakhalin – Khabarovsk – Vladivostok GTS construction.

Participating in the meeting were members of the Gazprom Management Committee: Yaroslav Golko, Head of the Investment and Construction Department and Vsevolod Cherepanov, Head of the Gas, Gas Condensate and Oil Production Department; as well as heads and experts of the Company’s specialized structural units, subsidiaries and contracting companies.

The meeting participants discussed the progress with the Sakhalin – Khabarovsk – Vladivostok project. In particular, they noted the need to finish the construction of the two-string crossing over the Nevelskoy Strait during the summer season 2010.

In addition, the meeting addressed the gasification prospects for the Sakhalin Oblast, the Primorsky and Khabarovsk Krais. The meeting participants noted that active preparation of regional gas consumers for gas supply was underway.

Based on the meeting results, Gazprom’s specialized structural units, subsidiaries and contracting companies were tasked to ensure timely construction of the Sakhalin – Khabarovsk – Vladivostok GTS.

Background:

Gazprom’s expert groups regularly visit the Far East. The groups are comprised of the Gazprom management, representatives from the Company’s specialized structural units, subsidiaries and contracting companies. The visits are primarily aimed at ensuring timely implementation of the projects for the Unified Gas Supply System creation in eastern Russia on the basis of the Company’s resources.

The September 2007 Order by the Russian Federation Industry and Energy Ministry approved the Development Program for an integrated gas production, transportation and supply system in Eastern Siberia and the Far East, taking into account potential gas exports to China and other Asia-Pacific countries (Eastern Gas Program). Gazprom was appointed by the Russian Government as the Program execution coordinator. New gas production centers will be created in eastern Russia: the Krasnoyarsk, Irkutsk, Yakutia, Kamchatka and Sakhalin centers.

The Eastern Gas Program gives priority to the creation and development of the Sakhalin – Khabarovsk – Vladivostok GTS that will be connected to the gas pipeline from the Republic of Sakha (Yakutia).

The GTS construction is targeted at developing gas supply to the Khabarovsk Krai and the Sakhalin Oblast, as well as arranging gas deliveries to the Primorsky Krai. The trunkline construction was launched in July 2009, the first start-up complex will be brought onstream in the third quarter of 2011. In parallel, the work is being carried out to gasify the Sakhalin Oblast including conversion of CHPP-1 in Yuzhno-Sakhalinsk to natural gas.

The 1,350-kilometer first start-up complex of the gas pipeline will have the annual capacity of 6 billion cubic meters. When brought to full capacity, the system will convey about 47.2 billion cubic meters of gas, with some 30 billion cubic meters – from Sakhalin.

The Sakhalin Island shelf and the Yakutia fields will be the main resource base for the Sakhalin – Khabarovsk – Vladivostok gas pipeline.