Today, at Gazprom’s Headquarters, Alexey Miller, Gazprom’s Management Committee Chairman and Anatoly Lisitsyn, Governor of the Yaroslavl Region have inked a 5-year Cooperation Agreement.

Under the Agreement, Gazprom and the Yaroslavl Region’s joint key businesses will be as follows:

• building the Northern Tyumen Region (NTR) – Torzhok gas main;
• expanding gas deliveries to Regional cities, towns, districts and localities;
• intensifying the use of gas motor fuel;
• creating and introducing gas saving technologies;
• developing a comprehensive automated gas consumption and quality measurement system;
• developing a power conservation program for the Yaroslavl Region, aiming to reduce gas consumption through the use of power saving technologies and state-of-the-art gas-fired equipment.

The parties will jointly step up measures targeted at improving the Yaroslavl Region’s energy balance, i.e. rationalizing and applying alternative energies on a larger scale.

The Agreement also underscores the need to produce an investment mechanism ensuring the development of Regional gas supply networks to be sponsored by the Gazprom Group based on the urgency and profitability principles, with the rate of return fitting with the intra-corporate standards.

The authorities of the Yaroslavl Region will channel timely and full payments for gas deliveries to budget-financed bodies and, in annually building the Regional budget, will allocate funds to offset Gazprom’s losses arising when gas is supplied to privileged consumers.

Gazprom, on its part, will provide Regional consumers with secure and safe gas deliveries.

Reference:

Gazprom and the authorities of the Yaroslavl Region first entered into a Cooperation Agreement in March 1999.

Last year, Gazprom provided Regional customers with some 2.6 bcm of gas and roughly the same amount is targeted for 2005.

The gas supply infrastructure of the Yaroslavl Region is currently developed by 65.8% of maximum gas demand, including by 81.8%, in cities, towns and urban settlements and 17.2%, in rural area (The same Russia-averaged parameters account for 53%, 60% and 34.7%, respectively).

At present, the Yaroslavl Region sees the construction of the 209.3-km-long Northern Tyumen Region (NTR) – Torzhok gas main, with 58 km laid and brought into operation in 2004, 141 km to be laid over 2005 and the construction to be completed in 2006.

DIVISION OF RELATIONS WITH MASS MEDIA