Chaired by Alexander Ananenkov, Deputy Chairman of JSC Gazprom's Management Committee, a meeting of the Gazprom's Aerospace Support Coordinating Board has taken place at Gazprom's headquarters.

Attending the meeting were heads and experts of federal ministries and departments, Gazprom's structural units, leading domestic shipbuilding design firms, the [Federal State Unitary Enterprise] Academician A.N. Krylov Central Research Institute (St. Petersburg), [JSC] R.E. Alexeyev Central Design Bureau for Vehicles with Underwater Wings (Nizhny Novgorod), [Federal State Unitary Enterprise] Almaz Central Marine Design Bureau (St. Petersburg) as well as representatives of research and construction & installation contracting companies.

The meeting looked into the design of air cushioned platforms and vessels with a 60-200 load capacity, intended for the transportation of large-block constructions and cargo during the development of the Yamal Peninsula and Arctic offshore fields. To this end, the parties discussed technical and economic parameters of hovercraft as well as proposals on their manufacture.

Additionally, the parties pondered on issues relative to the selection of optimum routes for hovercraft passage based on the analysis of Yamal's terrain, heard a report on the hovercraft use viability and potential impacts on the vegetation mantle.

Summing up the results, Alexander Ananenkov noted that the information received would help provide technical and economic assessment for the use of air cushioned platforms while performing feasibility studies for the Yamal development as well as come up with decisions on Gazprom's involvement in the hovercraft production.

"Building air-cushioned vessels is a target of nationwide significance. Orders for their manufacture will help load up capacities of domestic shipbuilding companies and the vehicles themselves could be used not only by Gazprom but also other companies running business in the regions with a poorly developed transportation infrastructure," stressed Alexander Ananenkov.

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At present Gazprom is gearing up for the development of the Yamal Peninsula fields, working, in particular, on the Substantiations of investments into the Yamal Peninsula-based Bovanenkovo field and supporting gas transmission infrastructure.

The Substantiations include devising a transportation scheme stipulating cargo deliveries by sea, river, rail, road and air.

To provide all-the-year-round transportation of large-block cargo directly from sea vessels to the production provinces with off road terrain, the scheme emphasizes potential use of alternative transportation vehicles: amphibious air cushioned vessels and platforms.