The Gazprom Headquarters today has hosted a working meeting between Alexander Ananenkov, Acting Chairman of the Gazprom Management Committee and Valentina Matviyenko, Governor of St. Petersburg.

The parties addressed the implementation of an Agreement for cooperation between Gazprom and St. Petersburg’s Government, placing a focus on the upgrading of thermal power facilities in St. Petersburg’s Petrogradskiy district, gasification of suburbs and execution of joint projects.

Alexander Ananenkov and Valentina Matviyenko examined the possibility of boosting gas supply to St. Petersburg and decided that St. Petersburg’s Government would prepare and provide Gazprom with proposals agreed with the Government of the Leningrad Oblast in relation to natural gas requirements up to 2020, taking into account the optimization potential for gas consumption.

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Gazprom and St. Petersburg’s Government had entered into the five-year Agreement for cooperation in December 2003. To promote the Agreement, the parties annually seal a Pact for cooperation.

In 2005 Gazprom has provided St. Petersburg with over 9.2 bcm of gas.

Gas deliveries within the first half of 2006 have been paid up at 98 per cent.

Under the Pact, Gazprom is engaged in the re-construction of thermal power facilities in St. Petersburg’s Petrogradskiy district, upgrading 19 boiler plants between 2004 and 2005, with 52 boilers and 42.4 km of heating mains to be re-constructed this year. Furthermore, the Company plans to modernize five boiler plants and pertinent infrastructure of St. Petersburg’s Kurortniy district.

In June 2006, Gazprom and St. Petersburg’s Government have signed a synchronized construction schedule for the city’s gasification facilities.

In accordance with the schedule, St. Petersburg’s suburbs will see a complex of activities aimed at preparing consumers for gas supply by pipelines currently under sweeping construction by Gazprom as stipulated by the Gasification Program for RF Regions over 2005 to 2007. St. Petersburg’s suburbs are expected to have a total of 19 gas pipelines built.