The Gazprom Headquarters hosted today a meeting of the Coordinating Committee for Environmental Protection. The meeting was chaired by Alexander Ananenkov, Deputy Chairman of the Company’s Management Committee, Head of the Coordinating Committee.

Taking part in the meeting were heads and experts of the Gazprom core business units as well as representatives of the Company’s subsidiaries – Gazprom dobycha Orenburg, Gazprom transgaz Ukhta, Gazprom dobycha Yamburg, as well as Gazprom transgaz Stavropol.

The meeting members discussed the Gazprom’s environmental performance in 2007. It was highlighted that the area of lands recultivated by Gazprom over the reporting year accounted for 9.8 thousand ha. In 2007 the amount of industrial wastes decreased by 10.1 thousand t versus 2006. The volume of water utilized for industrial needs in 2007 was reduced by 0.7 mcm compared to 2006.

Aggregate savings of fuel and energy resources derived from the Gazprom Energy Saving Program implementation came to 3.6 mln t of equivalent fuel (versus projected 2.4 mln t of equivalent fuel). At the same time, the saving of natural gas utilized for the Company’s proper needs exceeded 3 bcm in 2007.

At the meeting a special attention was paid to the arrangement of works to implement the Russian Federation President Decree “On certain measures aimed at boosting energy and environmental efficiency of the Russian economy”. Following the discussion results, decisions were taken to improve the corporate regulatory and procedural base with the view to further develop energy saving and environmental technologies.

Top-priority areas needing improvement in the Gazprom environmental management system were addressed and a plan was approved to prepare the Company for the international certification pursuant to the ISO 14001 standard.

The meeting participants discussed an issue concerning the preparation and evaluation of heads and experts of subsidiaries in the area of environmental safety assurance. The participants also approved a list of crucial activities related to the corporate system upgrading for staff environmental training and development in the Gazprom Group.

Background:

The Gazprom Coordinating Committee for Environmental Protection was established in October 2007 in order to provide an integrated approach and coordinate the environmental activities of the Company’s structural units and subsidiaries.

The major goals of the Committee are as follows:

• comprehensive evaluation of the Gazprom Group environmental activities effectiveness;
• introduction of an integrated environmental management system;
• coordination of Gazprom’s interaction with environmental authorities and public entities.

Pursuant to the Decree #889 by the Russian Federation President “On certain measures aimed at boosting energy and environmental efficiency of the Russian economy” dated June 4, 2008, the Russian Federation Government was tasked with ensuring an efficient and environmentally responsible utilization of energy and energy resources with a view to decrease by 2020 the energy intensity of the Russian GDP by at least 40 per cent compared to 2007.

In this connection, the Government is projecting a number of federal laws providing for tightening up the responsibility of business entities for environmental violations. The respective budget appropriations have been planned to implement energy saving and environmentally friendly production technologies.

ISO 14001 international standard of the International Organization for Standardization is a voluntary but widely recognized document.

ISO 14001 compliance certification confirms a company’s environmental efficiency, its responsibility towards nature protection and, in most cases, serves as a prerequisite for the development of partner relations with foreign companies.