OAO Gazprom (Gazprom) has opened the construction of first joint of the Sakhalin – Khabarovsk – Vladivostok gas transmission system (GTS). The first start up complex of the GTS will be operational in the third quarter of 2011. The GTS complex will be 1,350 kilometers (km) long with the capacity of six billion cubic meters per annum. Thereafter, the overall pipeline length will amount to nearly 1,800 km. The system will be capable of transmitting around 30 billion cubic meters of gas.
Vladimir Putin, Prime Minister of the Russian Federation said that “This day will go down in the Russian gas industry history. Welding of the first joint of the Sakhalin – Khabarovsk – Vladivostok GTS marks the startup of the system for gas supply to Eastern Russia.
As part of the government-backed Eastern gas program, Gazprom is pursuing ambitious goals of creating new gas centers. They are planned to produce some 50 billion cubic meters of gas by 2020. This figure is comparable to the annual volume of Russian gas exports beyond FSU. Gas production in Eastern Russia should be supported with the appropriate gas transmission facilities.
“The national economy has faced difficulties due to the global financial and economic crisis, and a demand drop. However, crises come and go. Later on, there will be an upsurge in demand, especially for energy carriers. We must be ready for that and should not give up the proposed gas industry development plans,” said Plenipotentiary Presidential Representative in the Far Eastern Federal District; Alexander Ananenkov.
The September 2007 Order by the Russian federation Industry and Energy Ministry approved the development program for an integrated gas production, transportation and supply system in Eastern Siberia and the Far East, taking into account potential gas exports to China and other Asia Pacific countries (Eastern gas program). Gazprom was appointed by the Russian federation government as the Program execution coordinator.
As part of the Program, new gas production centers will be created in Eastern Russia, namely, Krasnoyarsk, Irkutsk, Yakutsk, Kamchatka and Sakhalin.
The Sakhalin III project will become a main resource base for the Sakhalin – Khabarovsk – Vladivostok GTS development. In July 2009 licenses for the Kirinsky, Vostochno-Odoptinsky and Ayashsky blocks of the project were obtained by Gazprom. So far, geological exploration is being carried out at the Kirinskoye field (the license was granted in 2008). The field is planned for commissioning in 2014.