The Gazprom Management Committee reviewed the operating results of the Company’s subsidiaries and organizations over the 2019–2020 autumn/winter period and discussed the measures to be taken for ensuring uninterrupted gas supplies to consumers in the upcoming 2020–2021 autumn/winter period.
Gazprom fulfilled all of its obligations for providing domestic and foreign consumers with reliable gas supplies in the past winter, which was the warmest winter in recorded history in the area covered by Russia’s Unified Gas Supply System (UGSS).
The Company always makes large-scale preparations for the upcoming autumn/winter period by, among other things, carrying out preventive maintenance and repair works, inspecting facilities, and bringing gas production and transmission capacities onstream.
A crucial part of this work is the creation of required gas reserves in underground gas storage (UGS) facilities. This allows the Company to supply consumers with additional amounts of gas within tight timeframes if gas demand skyrockets during a cold snap.
By the start of the 2019–2020 withdrawal season, the potential maximum daily deliverability of UGS facilities reached 843.3 million cubic meters, an all-time high for the domestic gas industry. Gazprom plans to maintain this level in the upcoming heating season.
In order to ensure the reliable operation of the UGSS in the 2020–2021 autumn/winter period, the Management Committee tasked the specialized structural units and subsidiaries to:
- stockpile at least 72.322 billion cubic meters of working gas inventories in UGS facilities in Russia, 1.09 billion cubic meters in Belarus, and 0.091 billion cubic meters in Armenia by the next withdrawal season;
- develop the Basic Guidelines on preparing the facilities of Gazprom’s subsidiaries and organizations for the 2020–2021 autumn/winter period;
- 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 winter operations.
Background
By the start of the 2019–2020 withdrawal season, the Company stockpiled 72.2 billion cubic meters of working gas inventories in UGS facilities in Russia, 1.09 billion cubic meters in Belarus, and 0.085 billion cubic meters in Armenia.
