Release
The Gazprom Management Committee reviewed the operating results of the Company’s subsidiaries and organizations over the 2018–2019 autumn/winter period and discussed the measures to be taken for ensuring uninterrupted gas supplies to consumers in the upcoming winter.
It was noted that in the past winter Gazprom, as in previous years, had provided its consumers in Russia and abroad with the required gas supplies in a reliable manner. As usual, particular attention in the domestic market was paid to gas deliveries for socially significant facilities, public utility enterprises, and the population. Gas was exported to foreign consumers strictly in accordance with their requests.
Gazprom always makes thorough preparations for the period of heightened winter demand by continuously expanding its gas production and transmission capacities, inspecting facilities in Russia’s Unified Gas Supply System (UGSS), and carrying out scheduled preventive maintenance and repair works on a timely basis.
Special emphasis is placed on creating substantial gas reserves in underground gas storage (UGS) facilities. By the start of the previous withdrawal season (October 2018), Gazprom’s working gas inventories in Russia totaled 72.2 billion cubic meters. Compared to the preceding season, the potential maximum daily deliverability of Russian UGS facilities was increased by 7.2 million cubic meters to a record 812.5 million cubic meters. By the start of the 2019–2020 autumn/winter period, this indicator is expected to go up by 3.8 per cent, reaching a new all-time high of 843.3 million cubic meters.
In order to ensure the reliable operation of the UGSS in the 2019–2020 autumn/winter period, the Management Committee tasked the Company’s specialized structural units and subsidiaries with the following assignments:
- to create working gas inventories in UGS facilities, accumulating at least 72.2 billion cubic meters in Russia, 1.09 billion cubic meters in Belarus, 0.085 billion cubic meters in Armenia, and 11.39 billion cubic meters in Europe by the next withdrawal season;
- to implement the Basic Guidelines on preparing the facilities of Gazprom’s subsidiaries and organizations for the 2019–2020 autumn/winter period;
- to perform scheduled preventive maintenance and repairs at gas production, transmission, underground storage and processing facilities, as well as to prepare transport and specialized equipment for operation during the winter season.
“During its preparations for the upcoming autumn/winter period, the Company will already have a new construction and investment management structure in place. Work aimed at improving Gazprom’s corporate structure will continue. Its main goals are to overcome lingering obstacles in the Company’s development process, to increase transparency (in particular, through a phased transition to a tax monitoring system), and to enhance the overall efficiency of Gazprom as a vertically-integrated company. Besides, an even stronger focus will be put on financial performance, from the parent company to investment objects.
The dividend policy will be aimed at raising the payout level to 50 per cent of the earnings under the International Financial Reporting Standards. We are already taking steps in this direction. The dividends planned to be paid to the federal budget based on Gazprom’s results for 2018 will be the largest among all state-owned companies. The overall dividend amount (RUB 393.2 billion) will be the highest in the history of the Russian stock market.
These changes, which are meant to take the Company to a new level, have already been positively received by the investment community. Since the beginning of the restructuring, the value of Gazprom’s shares has grown by one and a half times. The Company’s market capitalization exceeded USD 85 billion yesterday. We have taken the top spot in the Russian stock market,” said Alexey Miller, Chairman of the Gazprom Management Committee.
