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The Gazprom Board of Directors took note of the information about gas infrastructure expansion in rural areas.
It was highlighted that connecting rural communities to gas is an absolute priority for Gazprom as part of its ambitious work towards nationwide gas infrastructure expansion. Traditionally, rural consumers account for about 80 per cent of facilities in the programs for gas supply and gas infrastructure expansion in Russian regions.
The meeting participants had a detailed discussion on the current status of gas infrastructure expansion efforts in villages and settlements. Since early 2021, the Company has already created the conditions for bringing gas to 167 rural communities, which is more than in all of the year 2020. Access to pipeline gas is now available to more than 43,000 households and apartments, as well as 105 boiler houses.
At the same time, Gazprom has undertaken a large-scale effort to implement the instructions of Vladimir Putin, President of the Russian Federation, for expediting additional gas grid expansion in the localities that are already provided with gas.
The Gazprom Mezhregiongaz Group jointly with the Russian Energy Ministry and the administrations of the constituent entities of the Russian Federation continue collecting and consolidating applications for additional gas grid expansion. The applications are being collected in 75 regions of Russia where the single and regional operators of gas infrastructure expansion are active.
It was noted that there are certain conditions with regard to additional gas grid expansion. For instance, households and gardeners' non-commercial partnerships are supposed to be located within communities that are already provided with gas, and there have to be duly executed title documents for the households and land plots in question. Gardeners' non-commercial partnerships may be connected to gas as a single land plot, i.e. gas networks will be built up to the boundaries of such partnerships.
Gazprom is actively working with the population to raise awareness about additional gas grid expansion in rural areas. Meetings with citizens are arranged in every region. Representatives of the Company and regional administrations give consumers detailed instructions on the conditions of connections to gas networks, the application procedure, and approximate costs for consumers (including the costs of gas-using equipment). Mobile offices accept applications from the population during these events.
Today, some 3,800 personal application centers for additional gas grid expansion are operating in Russian regions. Among them are mobile offices, client centers of the Gazprom Mezhregiongaz Group, and multifunctional centers. In addition, consumers can file applications remotely via the portals of government services or the website of the single operator of gas infrastructure expansion in the Russian Federation https://connectgas.ru/.
The Management Committee was tasked with continuing the work on gas infrastructure expansion in rural areas.
In 2020, Gazprom and 67 Russian regions signed gas supply and gas infrastructure expansion programs for a new five-year period, i.e. for 2021-2025. The amount of financing channeled by Gazprom is 2.9 times higher than that in 2016-2020. Over two-thirds of the investments will be provided to rural areas.
As per the list of instructions of Vladimir Putin, President of the Russian Federation, dated May 31, 2020, gas infrastructure expansion in Russia is to be completed in a stepwise manner by 2024 and 2030, and residential consumers must not bear any expenses for the connections to gas distribution networks.
On April 30, 2021, the Russian Government, in line with the instructions of the country's leadership, approved the Action plan (roadmap) for the implementation of a socially-oriented and cost-effective system of gas infrastructure expansion and gas supplies to serve the needs of the constituent entities of the Russian Federation. Among the significant novelties provided for by the document is the introduction of the role of a "single operator of gas infrastructure expansion."
In June 2021, a number of important amendments were introduced into Federal Law No. 69-FZ on Gas Supplies in the Russian Federation. In particular, the concepts of a single operator of gas infrastructure expansion and a regional one were established in said document. The Russian Government was vested with the authority of designating the single operator of gas infrastructure expansion, schemes of cooperation between the parties to gas grid expansion activities, and oversight schemes for the works.
In July 2021, the Russian Government appointed Gazprom Gazifikatsiya (established by Gazprom Mezhregiongaz and Gazprom Gazoraspredeleniye) as the Single operator of gas infrastructure expansion and approved the list of territories falling under the purview of said Single operator, which includes 66 constituent entities of the Russian Federation and the Sirius federal territory.
The Single operator will build gas pipeline branches, gas distribution stations, inter-settlement gas pipelines, and gas distribution networks up to the boundaries of land plots, thus making it possible to synchronize to a great extent the construction of gas infrastructure expansion facilities, achieve a considerable optimization of the construction costs, and significantly reduce the time required for connecting consumers to gas supply networks.
In September 2021, the Russian Government approved the regulatory acts pertaining to additional gas grid expansion. The documents outline, inter alia, the rules for connecting households to gas distribution networks as part of additional gas grid expansion efforts, the procedure for consumer engagement, and the timelines of this program. The appropriate legislative changes were developed taking into account the proposals put forward by Gazprom.
Information Directorate, Gazprom
Media +7 812 609-34-21 pr@gazprom.ru | Investment Community +7 812 609-41-29 ir@gazprom.ru | Gazprom on social media |
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OAO Gazprom published this content on 19 October 2021 and is solely responsible for the information contained therein. Distributed by Public, unedited and unaltered, on 19 October 2021 17:10:03 UTC.
