Alexey Miller, Chairman of the Gazprom Management Committee and Anatoly Chubais, Chairman of the RUSNANO Executive Board held today a regular joint meeting at Gazprom's headquarters dedicated to creating innovative products and their use at Gazprom's production facilities.

Taking part in the meeting were Members of the Gazprom Management Committee, heads of the relevant units and organizations of Gazprom and RUSNANO.

The meeting pointed out that the companies continued the joint studies of composite pipes use by Gazprom.

“It's a high time to carry out a specific project for composite materials use at our trunklines. For this purpose we are going to choose a gas pipeline section to become a testing ground for determining the capabilities of a composite pipe,” said Alexey Miller.

Before June 2015 it is planned to conduct R&D activities aimed, inter alia, at setting the requirements for target performance indicators of composite pipes and their joints. After that, an experimental design work will be done on the basis of these requirements. It will be followed by the construction of the gas pipeline section specified by Gazprom.

Gazprom and RUSNANO's portfolio companies are efficiently developing the cooperation in the area of cutting-edge energy saving technologies as well. For instance they provided a preliminary economic efficiency analysis of applying LED-based luminaries at Gazprom's facilities. Application of Optogan's LED-based luminaries at Gazprom Transgaz Yugorsk made it possible to reduce power consumption by lighting equipment by 34 per cent, providing higher efficiency of illumination. All in all, the total costs of LED-based luminaries installation, application and maintenance as compared to fluorescent lamps are more than 25 per cent lower, whereas the expected payback period is less than four years.

The meeting also looked into the issue of using anticorrosion nanocoating (created by METAKLEY from domestic raw materials) in domestic production of pipes for Gazprom. The coating, rivaling foreign counterparts, has undergone a testing procedure and was approved by Gazprom VNIIGAZ. The coating is currently under pilot operation and its commercial application technology is being worked out.

In addition, the parties discussed the preliminary results of testing TERMOINTECH thermoelectric generators at Gazprom's facilities. The generators were noted to consume natural gas. Therefore, they could be used for power generation at out-of-grid Gazprom's facilities. Gazprom and RUSNANO agreed to proceed with the generators' testing.

Background

In November 2010 Gazprom and RUSNANO signed the Protocol of Joint Actions. The document stipulates wider use of nanotechnologies by gas industry companies.

In June 2011 the Gazprom Innovative Development Program until 2020 was approved. The Program is aimed at constant improvement of Gazprom's technology level to retain the position of an engineering leader in the global energy business.

The document contains a set of measures on developing and adopting new technologies, innovative products and services by Gazprom at hydrocarbons production, transmission and processing facilities, power plants as well as measures to create favorable conditions for the intense innovative development.

The Program stipulates a pro-active approach to cooperation with corporate and independent research institutions as part of the R&D activities as well as with national development institutes and higher educational institutions in joint studies and staff training.

In September 2011 Gazprom and RUSNANO approved a Program to boost the demand for innovative and, inter alia, nanotech products in the gas industry.

RUSNANO was established in March 2011 through the reorganization of the state-owned Russian Corporation of Nanotechnologies. RUSNANO supports the Government's strategy for developing the nanotechnology industry by co-investing in nanotech projects with excellent economic potential or of public impact. The main areas are as follows: opto- and nano-electronics, mechanical engineering and metal working, solar energy, medicine, biotechnologies, energy saving solutions and nanostructured materials. The Russian Government holds a 100 per cent stake in the company.

The Fund for Infrastructure and Educational Programs, which also emerged after the reorganization of the Russian Corporation of Nanotechnologies, is responsible for creating the nanotechnology infrastructure and implementing educational programs.