Background
As per the list of instructions of Vladimir Putin, President of the Russian Federation, dated May 31, 2020, gas infrastructure expansion in Russia is to be completed in a stepwise manner by 2024 and 2030, and residential consumers must not bear any expenses for the connections to gas distribution networks.
In June 2021, a number of important amendments were introduced into Federal Law No. 69-FZ on Gas Supplies in the Russian Federation. In particular, the concepts of a single operator of gas infrastructure expansion and a regional one were established in said document. The Russian Government was vested with the authority of designating the single operator of gas infrastructure expansion, schemes of cooperation between the parties to gas grid expansion activities, and oversight schemes for the works.
In July 2021, the Russian Government appointed Gazprom Gazifikatsiya (established by Gazprom Mezhregiongaz and Gazprom Gazoraspredeleniye) as the Single operator of gas infrastructure expansion. As of today, the company performs the operator functions in 72 regions of the Russian Federation and the Sirius federal territory.
The Single operator is responsible for building gas pipeline branches, gas distribution stations, inter-settlement gas pipelines, and gas distribution networks up to the boundaries of land plots, thus making it possible to synchronize to a great extent the construction of gas infrastructure expansion facilities, achieve a considerable optimization of the construction costs, and significantly reduce the time required for connecting consumers to gas supply networks.
The establishment of the role of a single operator of gas infrastructure expansion also serves to perform the instruction of Vladimir Putin, President of the Russian Federation, voiced by him on April 21, 2021. By 2023, additional gas infrastructure expansion shall be completed in the country, i.e. gas pipelines shall be laid up to the boundaries of households and gardeners’ non-commercial partnerships that are not connected to gas, but are situated within localities already covered by the gas grid, provided that these activities do not cause the need to expand the flowrate of gas distribution stations. Said additional gas infrastructure expansion shall not require any payments from the population.
