Today Gazprom’s delegation led by Valery Golubev, Deputy Chairman of the Company’s Management Committee took part in the celebrations in the Sakiai District (Republic of Lithuania) dedicated to the completion of the second string of the Minsk – Vilnius – Kaunas – Kaliningrad gas pipeline. The event was also attended by Viktoras Valentukevicius, Director General of Lietuvos Dujos and representatives of the Lithuanian Government.

“The Russian Government entrusted Gazprom with the task to provide the Kaliningrad Oblast with up to 2.5 billion cubic meters of natural gas in 2010. The availability of a two-string gas pipeline and a compressor station near Vilnius that will be commissioned in the next year give us certainty that the task will be fulfilled. The nearly doubled supplies of natural gas will help to boost the economic revival of the Kaliningrad Oblast, promote industrial growth and create workplaces, which is especially significant in the current economic environment. The new gas pipeline will also improve the security of gas supplies to Lithuania and open up new prospects for raising the gasification level and increasing gas supplies to Lithuanian consumers,” stated Valery Golubev at the celebrations.

Background:

In compliance with the Russian Federation Government orders, Gazprom has developed and is implementing the Action Plan aimed at supplying the Kaliningrad Oblast with 2.5 billion cubic meters of natural gas by 2010. The Plan stipulates:

- constructing the second string of the Minsk – Vilnius – Kaunas – Kaliningrad gas pipeline within a single technological corridor with the first string with 1.4 billion cubic meters in throughput capacity that has been operated since 1985. The second string stretches 139.2 kilometers.

- building the Kaliningrad UGS facility in order to mitigate daily and seasonal fluctuations in gas consumption as well as to stockpile gas to be used in case of anomalously cold winter spells or emergencies. The first start-up complex of the UGS facility will be brought onstream in late 2009.

- increasing the Krasnoznamenskaya CS capacity to guarantee the projected gas supplies via the Minsk – Vilnius – Kaunas – Kaliningrad gas pipeline.

In addition, Lietuvos Dujos has constructed in the Republic of Lithuania a 700-millimeter looping that stretches 18 kilometers from the Sakiai gas metering station to the Russian Federation border. The looping is designed for raising gas transit to the Kaliningrad Oblast. The following projects are currently underway:

- increasing the Sakiai gas metering station performance up to 480 thousand cubic meters per hour by December 2009;

- constructing a new compressor station near Vilnius (Yaunyunay CS) in 2010.

Natural gas is exported to the Republic of Lithuania under long-term agreements effective through 2015.

In 2008 Lithuania was supplied with around 3.1 billion cubic meters of natural gas.

Lietuvos Dujos deals with gas purchase, transmission and distribution in the Republic of Lithuania, as well as with Russian gas transit to the Kaliningrad Oblast. Gazprom holds a 37 per cent stake in the company.