The Gazprom headquarters hosted today a meeting of the Coordinating Committee for Environmental Protection and Energy Efficiency. The meeting was moderated by Alexander Ananenkov, Deputy Chairman of the Company's Management Committee and Chairman of the Coordinating Committee.

Taking part in the meeting were Members of the Gazprom Management Committee: Viktor Ilyushin, Head of the Department for Relations with Russian Federation Authorities, Vsevolod Cherepanov, Head of the Gas, Gas Condensate and Oil Production Department as well as heads of Gazprom's specialized structural units and subsidiaries.

The Coordinating Committee members discussed the environmental protection, fuel and energy saving efforts taken by Gazprom's subsidiaries.

The meeting paid special attention to environmentally-friendly technologies of drilling wastes disposal and recycling. Specialized structural units were tasked to continue streamlining the said technologies.

It was emphasized that environmental safety assurance during drilling operations was a necessary requirement of Gazprom imposed on contracting companies. Compliance with all production and environmental safety rules by contractors is especially important in offshore operations. In this context, the Coordinating Committee ordered specialized structural units to elaborate proposals on environmental audit of drilling contractors before granting them permission to perform offshore drilling.

Background

The Gazprom Coordinating Committee for Environmental Protection and Energy Efficiency was established in October 2007 in order to secure 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:

comprehensively evaluate the effectiveness of Gazprom Group's environmental activities;

introduce an integrated environmental, energy saving and energy efficiency management;

coordinate Gazprom's interaction with environmental authorities and public entities.

In 2010 the amount of saved fuel and energy resources in Gazprom's subsidiaries totaled nearly 2.7 million tons of fuel equivalent including more than 2.3 billion cubic meters of natural gas and 181.6 million KWh of electricity.

In 2010 Gazprom's subsidiaries cut air pollutants emission by 10.5 per cent versus 2009 despite intensified gas production and transmission activities. Consumption of service water was also reduced from 79.6 to 64.3 million cubic meters.