OREANDA-NEWS. December 16, 2009. Today Alexander Ananenkov, Deputy Chairman of the Gazprom Management Committee held in the Company’s Headquarters a meeting dedicated to the criteria of technical and technological engineering in order to enhance the reliability and efficiency of underground gas storage (UGS) facilities in Russia.

Taking part in the meeting were Oleg Aksyutin, Member of the Management Committee – Head of the Gas Transportation, Underground Storage and Utilization Department, heads and experts from the Gazprom Administration specialized subdivisions, VNIPIgazdobycha, Gazprom VNIIGAZ, Gazprom UGS and Podzemburgaz.

Opening the meeting Alexander Ananenkov emphasized that development of new approaches to technical and technological engineering of UGS facilities would enhance reliability of storages as part of the Unified Gas Supply System and reduce construction and retrofitting costs.

The meeting participants discussed the issues related to UGS upgrading. An emphasis was placed on the projects for UGS construction and operation to be elaborated by research institutes with due regard to various technical and technological specifics, as well as on the comprehensive measures to be taken to increase the daily send-out capacity of storages. In this respect, the meeting noted that it was important to improve the criteria of efficient formation energy utilization.

Based on the meeting results, Gazprom’s subdivisions and subsidiary companies were entrusted with the tasks aimed at raising the technological level of Russian UGS facilities.