Gazprom’s Headquarters has convened today a meeting dedicated to gas deliveries to Russian and foreign consumers during the cold snap. Chaired by Alexander Ananenkov, Deputy Chairman of Gazprom’s Management Committee, the meeting was attended by the heads of the core production units, Marketing and Gas & Liquid Hydrocarbon Processing Department, Department of Relationships with Regional Authorities of the Russian Federation and Mezhregiongaz.

The meeting underscored that during the anomalously low temperatures currently prevailing throughout Russia Gazprom’s production facilities were running at their maximum.

On January 16-20 Gazprom supplied an extra 1.3 bcmof gas to domestic consumers, including 309 mln cu mon January 19 during the Epiphany frost.

The meeting paid special attention to the industrial consumers’ vigorous fulfillment of a schedule prescribing their conversion to standby energy sources (Schedule ?1).

Schedule ?1 stipulates 211.5 mln cu mof gas being spared per day. However industrial consumers reduced gas consumption, switching to backup fuels, by only 40 mln cu mof gas per day.

The meeting also emphasized that 15Russian regions had turned up unprepared for the shard temperature drop, with industrial consumers of those regions having failed to timely stockpile backup fuels and, thus, virtually disrupting the fulfillment of Schedule ?1.

Gas deliveries to Europe remain in line with existing transit contracts.An extra 57 mln cu mper day was exported on January 18-20 in the direction of Ukraine only.

Given that, under meteorological forecasts, cold temperatures will persist through next week as well, Gazprom will strictly abide by its contractual commitments, giving a priority to gas supply to the residential sector. At the same time Gazprom will intensify its efforts towards urging regional industrial consumers to vigorously follow Schedule ?1.

Reference:

To secure uninterrupted gas supply to the household sector, Gazprom has started operating under a schedule stipulating the conversion of Russian industrial consumers to standby energy sources (Schedule ?1). Subject to annual endorsement by regional authorities, Schedule ?1 obliges industrial consumers to have backup fuels stockpiled for the autumn-winter heating season.

Applied under Article19 of the Regulations on Gas Supply in the RF, approved by the RF Government’s Directive ?162 from February 5 1998, Schedule ?1 prescribes partial conversion of customers to standby energy sources (fuel oil, peat, coal, etc.) to spare an amount of gas for meeting increased demand of the residential sector.

Conversion to backup fuels and their timely procurement is fixed in contracts with all industrial consumers.