Alexey Miller Reflects on 2019
Gazprom Chairman Alexey Miller has reflected on 2019, saying it was a landmark year in the history of the gas industry.
The Power of Siberia gas pipeline has come onstream, and on December 2, Gazprom launched Russian pipeline gas supplies to China. “This is a market with enormous potential,” says Miller. “Power of Siberia is one of the most ambitious projects in the world gas industry. In a mere five years, we created a gas production center in Yakutia from the ground up. We laid a state-of-the-art gas pipeline from there.” The work was carried out in extreme conditions, he says, yet completed ahead of schedule.
An important mission of Power of Siberia is to expand gas infrastructure in Russia’s Far East and Yakutia. “Natural gas means a higher quality of life; most notably in rural areas. Together, we are conducting this work all around Russia. Today, Gazprom is working in 69 regions of the Russian Federation, supplying gas to consumers in the domestic market. This year, we have brought pipeline gas to another 140 inhabited localities. More than 1,700 kilometers of gas pipelines have been built as part of our program for gas infrastructure expansion in the Russian Federation.”
In the Kaliningrad Region, an offshore LNG receiving terminal commenced operation along with the Marshal Vasilevskiy floating storage and regasification unit. This resulted in a totally independent and reliable route for supplying gas to the westernmost region of the country.
Exports to Europe are expected to total 198.8 billion cubic meters of gas by the end of this year. In a few days, Gazprom will start supplying gas via the TurkStream offshore gas pipeline. Nord Stream 2 is yet to be completed, but Miller notes that last week marked the signing of a protocol on gas cooperation with the Ukraine from 2020 onward.
“The reliability of our gas supplies to Russia and abroad is underpinned by a robust resource base and a powerful production complex. By the end of 2019, we will have produced some 500 billion cubic meters of gas.”
The Yamal gas production center continues to expand. In March full-scale development of the Kharasaveyskoye field commenced. The field will come onstream as early as 2023 and will provide consumers with gas for more than 100 years.
“Simultaneously, we continue to enhance the northern gas transmission corridor in order to transmit the gas produced in Yamal. Within the Ukhta – Torzhok 2 gas pipeline, we are preparing the launch of Novoyubileynaya, the first of the pipeline’s seven compressor stations.
“We are building cutting-edge hi-tech facilities along the whole production chain. A great case in point is the Amur Gas Processing Plant (GPP), which will become one of the world’s largest. The project is 54 percent complete.”
In Ust-Luga in northwestern Russia, Gazprom has launched the project to build an integrated complex for gas processing and liquefaction. It will be the core of a powerful, one-of-a-kind industrial cluster, says Miller.
Gazprom is now the largest Russian company.