OREANDA-NEWS. On October 22, the town of Belokurikha in the Altai Krai hosted a solemn ceremony dedicated to commissioning of the branch pipeline to Belokurikha, Gazprom's information department reports. Attending the ceremony were Alexander Karlin, Governor of the Altai Krai Administration, Alexander Berdnikov, Governor of the Republic of Altai, Gazprom delegation chaired by Alexander Ananenkov, Deputy Chairman of the Gazprom Management Committee, and heads of the municipal authorities of the Altai Krai.

"The commissioning of the branch pipeline to the town of Belokurikha is part of a systematic and large-scale work of Gazprom on setting up the Integrated Gas Supply System in Eastern Siberia and the Far East. The pipeline has an important social and economic meaning for the Altai Krai, because natural gas means a new life standard. Gasification of the most important resorts of the Altai Krai such as Belokurikha is a significant contribution of Gazprom to the improvement of environmental situation in the region," said Alexander Ananenkov.

The branch pipeline to the town of Belokurikha is a component part of the Barnaul-Biysk-Gorno-Altaisk gas main. The total length of the branch pipeline is 87.9 km. The branch pipeline includes underwater crossing via the Ob River and Belokurikha gas distribution station. The branch pipeline construction will enable to gasify Belokurikha as well as other six settlements.
The construction of the Barnaul-Biysk-Gorno-Altaisk gas main with the branch pipeline to Belokurikha started in 2000. The Barnaul-Biysk section was commissioned in November 2006 with the total length of nearly 150 km. The Biysk-Gorno-Altaisk section commissioning is slated for 2008. Along the route of the Barnaul-Biysk-Gorno-Altaisk gas main with the branch pipeline to Belokurikha it is planned to construct 13 branch pipelines, which will enable to gasify 117 thousand apartments in 297 settlements of 14 local areas.