OREANDA-NEWS. February 27, 2009. Alexey Miller and Alexey Kuzmitsky discuss prospects for gas supply to Kamchatka Krai and sign Cooperation Agreement

The Gazprom Headquarters hosted today a working meeting between Alexey Miller, Chairman of the Company’s Management Committee and Alexey Kuzmitsky, Governor of the Kamchatka Krai.

The parties discussed the prospects for the gasification and gas supply to the region as well as the progress in implementing the Accord on Gasification for the Kamchatka Krai. It was emphasized that Gazprom was currently finalizing the development of the General Scheme for the gasification and gas supply to the region.

Special attention was paid to the need to timely prepare the local consumers for gas supplies.

Alexey Miller and Alexey Kuzmitsky considered the issues of shaping the resource base for gas supply to the region. In this context, the meeting stressed the importance of rapid implementation of the Russian Federation Government resolution to award Gazprom the rights to use the subsurface resources of the Okhotsk Sea offshore Kamchatka.

Based on the meeting results Alexey Miller and Alexey Kuzmitsky entered into an Agreement of Cooperation between Gazprom and the Kamchatka Krai Government.

Signed for the first time ever, the document provides for coordinated cooperation between the parties in a whole range of activities. The top-priority ones are:
• review and implementation of projects for field exploration and development as well as hydrocarbon processing and transmission;
• execution of the Gas Supply to the Kamchatka Oblast, Phase 1 – Gas Supply to Petropavlovsk-Kamchatsky investment project;
• gasification and gas supply to the Kamchatka Krai;
• production, transportation and utilization of the gas motor fuel;
• development and adoption of gas- and energy-saving technologies;
• improvement of the regional fuel and energy balance;
• creation of an integrated system of environmental monitoring.

According to the Agreement, the parties will promote an investment mechanism ensuring sustainable development of the gas supply system in the Kamchatka Krai and keep various financial sources optimally balanced.

The document stipulates Gazprom’s participation in the regional investment projects under the condition of their economic viability and solvent consumers’ gas demand.

The Government of the Kamchatka Oblast will give Gazprom the necessary assistance in securing a favorable investment environment for developing a gas supply system. This particularly involves creation of conditions for establishing market gas prices, taking into account the competition with other fuels and allocation of land plots for the construction of industrial facilities and social amenities.

At the same time, Gazprom will provide technical and environmental safety of the construction and operation of gas supply facilities in the Kamchatka Krai as well as reliable gas supply to the Krai’s consumers.