OREANDA-NEWS. October 2, 2009. The Management Committee has taken notice of the information relevant to the progress with constructing Gazprom’s startup facilities in 2009.

It was underlined that during the current year the progress with constructing the said facilities generally complied with Gazprom’s schedule for commissioning of production facilities as well as with the adjusted Investment Program for 2009.

The meeting emphasized that even in a complex environment of the global financial and economic crisis Gazprom was oriented towards sustainable development. The Company is taking the opportunity to temporarily reallocate financial and production resources from the projects, which have become less attractive due to changes in demand for natural gas and strategic projects.

It was noted that numerous construction backlogs were projected for creation between 2009 and 2012 for the new largest projects of Gazprom, in particular, for the Bovanenkovo and Shtokman fields pre-development, construction of the necessary gas transmission capacities and execution of the Eastern Gas Program’s projects.

In 2009, for instance, construction backlogs were expanded in order to put onstream the Sakhalin – Khabarovsk – Vladivostok gas pipeline in 2011 and the Dzhubga – Lazarevskoye – Sochi gas pipeline in 2010.
Background

The Company’s adjusted Investment Program for 2009 was approved by the Board of Directors on September 30, 2009. It has been shaped with due regard to the Company’s top-priority objectives together with cost minimization.

The adjustment of the 2009 Investment Program parameters is stipulated by the influence of objective external factors formed in the environment of a global financial and economic crisis. The major of them are a drop in gas demand on all the target markets of Gazprom, and gas price changes.

The Investment Program provides for extension of the commissioning schedule for a number of production facilities. In particular, due to an expected drop in gas demand, the first startup complexes of the Bovanenkovo field and the Bovanenkovo – Ukhta gas trunkline system will be commissioned in the third quarter of 2012 instead of the third quarter of 2011.

The market situation made it necessary to cut investments in developing gas production, processing and underground storage facilities, as well as in executing the integrated upgrading and technical modernization program for the gas transmission facilities for 2007–2010.

Meanwhile, the Investment Program provides for increased investments in the top-priority projects execution, including the Gryazovets – Vyborg, SRTO – Torzhok and Pochinki – Gryazovets gas pipelines construction.

The Company increased investments in the projects of strategic importance for the Russian Federation implemented under the federal authorities’ instructions and required for the Russian regions gasification.