2013
December 31, 2013
Milestones of 2013
Material by Gazprom website Editorial Board
The year 2013 has become a crucial stage for the development of Gazprom and the reinforcement of the Company's leading positions in the Russian and global energy markets.
The Company launched two offshore projects. In October the first gas was extracted from the Kirinskoye field where Russia's first subsea production facility is installed. Two months afterwards Gazprom pioneered the development of the Russian Arctic shelf: the first oil recovered from the Prirazlomnoye field enabled the Company to start establishing a producing region there.
Another step was made toward expanding the Company's presence in the liquefied natural gas market. Gazprom gave start to two new LNG plant projects in the Primorye Territory and the Leningrad Region. Proactive work continued in the international markets: the Company began building the Bulgarian and Serbian sections of the South Stream gas pipeline and launched gas production in Vietnam. Gazprom allocated record high investments into the gasification of Russian regions (almost RUB 34 billion), completed the construction of Russia's most advanced combined cycle thermal power plant in Adler, commissioned the twenty second underground gas storage facility in Russia – Kaliningradskoye and switched all its refineries to Euro 5 fuels production ahead of schedule.
December 24, 2013
To Black Sea for 500 rubles
Photo essay
Material by Elena Fomenko, Andrey Tylchak (Gazprom Transgaz Stavropol), Gazprom website Editorial Board
Did you know that natural gas (methane) used as a motor fuel is the most eco-friendly energy source for motor vehicles among the conventional ones? It is one of the main reasons why promoting methane use as a motor fuel is a strategic area of Gazprom’s activities.
In recent months our Company has been ‘generating’ news about this subject thick and fast. And to make sure that such big headlines are driven by real work, we went to the Stavropol Territory to check how NGV fuel of the 21st century is being promoted by our subsidiary company Gazprom Transgaz Stavropol.
November 26, 2013
South Stream is a step ahead
Published in corporate Gazprom Magazine Issue 11
Despite the numerous opponents of South Stream and the opinions of European skeptics doubting the success of the project aimed at constructing a new gas trunkline from Russia to Southern and Central Europe, it is progressing at a fast pace. The gas pipeline commissioning and the start of supplies are scheduled for December 2015. In 2018 South Stream will reach its full design capacity of 63 billion cubic meters a year.
November 21, 2013
Getting ready for winter season
Photo essay
Material by Elena Fomenko, Olga Zimina, Andrey Tylchak (Gazprom Transgaz Stavropol), Eduard Korniyenko, Gazprom website Editorial Board
Being a good manager, Gazprom always gets ready for winter well in advance. Therefore, “winter” already comes for us when the summer sun starts blazing through the window. In this photo essay we will give you an insight on how preparations for the forthcoming autumn-winter season are coming to an end through the example of our subsidiary company – Gazprom Transgaz Stavropol.
October 25, 2013
Power imbalance: extremes of European power industry
Published in corporate Gazprom Magazine Issue 10
The global financial crisis, energy market metamorphoses, liberal reforms being in progress for more than fifteen years already and many other factors have brought the European Union (EU) power industry to the crossroads. Being in a state of constant turbulence, the EU power market has accumulated the maximum of contradictions which cannot be eliminated until the authorities and regulatory bodies propose a sound long-term development strategy for this industry. Such a situation alarms the potential strategic investors whose participation could have allowed for settling some of these contradictions.
October 4, 2013
Thirty thousand Gazprom employees at Russia-wide cleanup action
Photo essay
Material by Gazprom website editorial board
On August 31, the last Saturday of summer, an environmental cleanup action – ‘Green Russia’ – took place throughout the country from Vladivostok to Kaliningrad and from Nadym to Krasnodar. Gazprom did not stay away from the action and went out to combat garbage with rakes and shovels. All the more so as the year 2013 is declared the Year of Ecology in the Company. Taking part in the event were more than 30 thousand people from Gazprom’s 70 subsidiaries.
October 1, 2013
Third advent: NGV fuel came back earnestly and for good
Published in corporate Gazprom Magazine Issue 9
1 RUB billion of investments to be channeled to the construction of new gas filling stations – the figure seemed to be unreal when Gazprom announced it in the beginning of this year. In previous years much less funds, especially after the crisis, had been allocated to the construction of compressed natural gas (CNG) filling stations. And, quite unexpectedly, it was announced in summer that RUB 14 billion would be invested in the NGV sector development. In between these two events the Government took the decision to convert motor vehicles to natural gas and to provide filling stations with gas filling equipment.
September 27, 2013
Northern Lights over Sakhalin shelf
Photo essay
Material by Gazprom website editorial board
Today we would like to acquaint you with a complicated process of marine drilling. During the 2013 navigation period Gazprom is drilling two exploratory wells at the Yuzhno-Kirinskoye field offshore the Sea of Okhotsk (Sakhalin III project). We visited the Severnoye Siyaniye (Northern Lights) semi-submersible drilling rig (SSDR) – one of the several rigs constructed over the last years on Gazprom’s order at Vyborg Shipyard.
August 22, 2013
Bely Island becoming cleaner
Photo essay
Material by Andrey Teplyakov, Gennady Litvinov (Gazprom Dobycha Nadym), Danil Kolosov (Krasny Sever newspaper), volunteers of the environmental expedition to the Bely Island and Gazprom website editorial board
We will visit the northernmost part of the Yamal-Nenets Autonomous Area and the main gas production region in Russia – Bely Island. In 2012 the Governor of the Yamal-Nenets Autonomous Area suggested that an environmental expedition should start clean-up operations on the island. In summer, when all the traces of human activities appeared from under the snow, volunteers arrived.
August 9, 2013
Getting warm welcome home
Photo essay
Material by Oleg Ermolayev, Oksana Platonenko, Nikolai Giryavenko (Gazprom Transgaz Surgut) and Gazprom website editorial board
By early spring thousands of migrating birds head from their wintering areas to northern Russia to breed. Many of them settle close to Gazprom’s production facilities. To find out why, we went to the Tyumen Region to the vicinity of compressor station No.11 (CS-11), Gazprom Transgaz Surgut. According to the ecologists, this year a number of nestings there hit record high.
July 19, 2013
Bovanenkovo stands still letting deer herds pass
Photo essay
Material by Andrey Teplyakov, Gennady Litvinov (Gazprom Dobycha Nadym) and Gazprom website Editorial Board
Today we will tell you how to handle a challenge no oil or gas company in the world has ever handled. For this purpose, we will join the working group responsible for the readiness of deer crossing through the Bovanenkovo field, visit the reindeer herders and watch the busiest motorway in the Yamal Peninsula shut off.
July 9, 2013
Plus two
Published in corporate Gazprom Magazine Issues 7–8
This year Gazprom will bring into production two offshore hydrocarbon fields. It will be another stage in the Company’s intense preparations for entry into the Russian continental shelf on a large scale. Gazprom is nowadays the only Russian company that has the necessary experience and technical means to expand its oil and gas presence offshore with its own resources.
June 27, 2013
Ready for Shareholders Meeting
Photo essay
Material by Gazprom website Editorial Board
On June 28 Gazprom will receive the most important guests – on the last Friday of June the Company’s shareholders will traditionally gather at the headquarters for the annual meeting. The Company will report to the shareholders about last year’s operating results and discuss with them the plans for the next year. Gazprom is making very careful arrangements for greeting the shareholders. Apart from preparing numerous speeches and reports, much attention is paid to improving the premises. In this photo essay we will tell you how employees of Gazprom’s branch in charge of the Company’s corporate buildings are getting ready to receive guests.
June 19, 2013
Lack of Russian gas strangles China
Published in corporate Gazprom Magazine Issue 6
Early this year above 30 per cent of China’s territory (including Beijing, the capital city) was blanketed with heavy smog for a few weeks. In some areas the air pollution 40 times exceeded the safe level. The mortality rate increased sharply within the environmental disaster area. In order to reduce emissions, Chinese industrial facilities were forced to shut down. As a result, the Chinese Government took a number of measures to speed up signing of an agreement for Russian gas supply to China.
The problem could be solved by converting coal-fired plants to much more environmentally-friendly natural gas, and cars – to gas-powered engines. If we assume Euro 4 petrol as a reference, we see that compressed natural gas is nearly 3 times greener by NOx, 14 times greener by CH, above 16 times greener by benzopyrene, 12.5 times greener by CO and 3 times greener by soot (100 times greener versus diesel-powered vehicles). The Chinese clearly understand that fact, that’s why they already have 1.5 million natural gas vehicles and this number keeps growing fast.
June 4, 2013
Shale is dead? Long live shale!
Published in corporate Gazprom Magazine Issue 5
Not long ago, between 2006 and 2007 the sun of shale gas rose in the skies of the energy sector. At that time the wholesale price of the ‘blue fuel’ was USD 600 per 1,000 cubic meters in the USA. Producing companies used to perform hydraulic fracturing with horizontal directional drilling, which made it possible to cut down the production costs to quite an acceptable level of USD 150 to 200. The shale gas production soared and materially surpassed rather modest forecasts of the US Energy Information Administration (EIA). Production growth is wonderful news, but the production growth that many times surpasses the forecast is intriguing news, giving the impression that a new high-yielding business has emerged.
Numerous forecasts started taking into account the growing role of shale gas. It was particularly stressed that any day now shale gas would impose traditional suppliers reduce prices. It was considered good style to discuss not just the possibility of developing gas shale in Europe, but the fixed starting dates. But it couldn’t last long.
April 30, 2013
Power of Yamal
Photo essay
Material by Gazprom website Editorial Board
Today we publish the second part of the photo essay of our Yamal Peninsula trip to give you an insight of gasmen work and living at the Bovanenkovo field Be advised that the first part of the photo essay (“Yamal Express”, April 1, 2013) was dedicated to the Obskaya – Bovanenkovo railway.
The Bovanenkovo field or Bovanenkovo (a short form of its name) is the largest gas and condensate field in the Yamal Peninsula. It is situated in the eastern part of the Peninsula, 40 kilometers away from the Kara Sea. The reserves of the field amount to some 5 trillion cubic meters.
April 25, 2013
Igor Yusufov: Shale gas is an unprofitable business and a very harmful thing for environment
Interview by Vesti FM
I think that shale gas is a very difficult business, an unprofitable business for the lack of necessary technologies; moreover, it is a very harmful thing for the environment. We know that in February Angela Merkel said that they would pay great attention to the consequences of shale gas development in Europe and in Germany, in particular. An Order was given to the German Environment Ministry and the Ministry of Economics to elaborate a law on shale gas in respect to the environmental consequences of its development. The chemicals used in hydraulic fracturing lead to harmful consequences for the environment and aquifers. That’s why shale gas perspectives are very vague. They are insensitive and can’t influence the global gas balance. Gazprom has its own technologies. Gazprom conducts experimental studies of similar technologies in Kuzbass, as Mr. Miller said, and in its strategy it takes into account the existence of such gas as well as takes pro-active efforts in the LNG sector. After all, Gazprom’s main priority is natural gas – the Company’s core business that satisfies both the national and the international demand.
April 17, 2013
Vitaly Markelov: Expanding geographic reach
The interview was taken by Sergey Pravosudov
Published in corporate Gazprom Magazine Issue 4
According to the overall results of geological exploration performed by the Company in the Russian Federation in 2012, the total growth of C1 hydrocarbon reserves made up 600.5 million tons of fuel equivalent, including 572.6 billion cubic meters of gas, 21.5 million tons of gas condensate and 6.5 million tons of oil. The replenishment rate of gas reserves reached 117.6 per cent.
The largest growth of reserves was achieved at federal fields in the Yamal-Nenets Autonomous Area, namely the Severo-Tambeyskoye and Tasiyskoye fields (386 million tons of fuel equivalent) as well as the Chayandinskoye field in the Republic of Sakha (Yakutia) (73 million tons of fuel equivalent).
April 12, 2013
Yamal Express
Photo essay
Material by Gazprom website Editorial Board
Today we are going to present you our next photo essay. This time we have visited the Yamal Peninsula. In the first part of the photo essay published today we'll tell you about the Obskaya – Bovanenkovo railway. The second part will be devoted to the Bovanenkovo field and will be published soon.
April 9, 2013
Vitaly Chernomyrdin: My father used to say that no matter how hard it was, you had to try to do it not just well, but better than anybody else
Exclusive interview
Material by Gazprom website Editorial Board
Today in Russia we are giving tribute to Viktor Chernomyrdin; on April 9 he would have turned 75. At the point of his father’s anniversary Vitaly, Viktor Chernomyrdin’s elder son told us about his childhood memories, family traditions, numerous friends and how the family together with Viktor Chernomyrdin lived through all of his appointments.
March 4, 2013
Mikhail Sirotkin: "Boosting efficiency"
The interview was taken by Sergey Pravosudov
Published in corporate Gazprom Magazine Issue 1–2
With a view to implement a single purchasing policy, Gazprom set up the Competitive Purchases Department on the platform of the Tender Committee. The measures taken by the Department in 2010 and 2011 helped Gazprom by early 2012 to organize its purchasing activities in line with the Federal Law on Purchases of Goods, Works and Services by Individual Types of Legal Entities, which entered into force on January 1, 2012.
The centralization of competitive purchases produced a considerable positive effect. The competitive purchases made in 2011 by the Department for the Gazprom Group needs amounted to RUB 354.2 billion (which is ten times more than the volume of 2009 purchases made by the Gazprom Tender Committee that served as the platform for setting up the Department), while the economic effect totaled RUB 38.8 billion (the difference between the sum of starting prices and the sum of winner prices).