On visiting session of Gas Industry Commission for Field Development and Subsurface Use
RELEASE
Release
A visiting session of the Gas Industry Commission for Field Development and Subsurface Use has been held in Novgorod.
Taking part in the session were heads and experts from the Gazprom Administration subdivisions and subsidiaries – Gazprom UGS, Gazprom export, Gazprom transgaz Kazan, Gazprom transgaz Yugorsk, Kubangazprom, VNIIGAZ, Gazpromgeofizika, VNIPIgazdobycha, SevKavNIPIgaz, TsKBN, Gazpromenergodiagnostika as well as Orenburggeofizika, Podzemburgaz and GITAS scientific & production firm.
The participants addressed the results of gas withdrawal from underground gas storage facilities over the 2008–2009 autumn/winter period, the gas balance in UGS facilities and the major tasks relevant to preparing UGS facilities for the 2009–2010 withdrawal season.
The session scrutinized well performance and withdrawal regimes over the past autumn/winter period, evaluated the readiness of capacities for gas injection in 2009 and considered technical capabilities for gas injection in UGS facilities during the current year. Special attention was paid to the prospects for developing UGS facilities abroad in order to secure the reliability and flexibility of export supplies.
At the end of the session the Commission positively evaluated the gas withdrawal activities over the 2008–2009 autumn/winter period and defined the key challenges with regard to preparing UGS facilities for operation during the 2008–2009 autumn/winter period.
Background
There are currently 25 underground gas storage (UGS) facilities operational in the Russian Federation with the commercial gas volume of 64 billion cubic meters. The potential peak send-out capacity of UGS facilities by the withdrawal season start-up is 620 million cubic meters a day, with the daily average send-out between December and February accounting for 500 million cubic meters.
The maximum daily UGS send-out is projected to be increased to 758 million cubic meters in the mid-term for higher peak shaving reliability.
Gazprom stores gas in UGS facilities in Latvia, Germany, Austria, France and the UK as well as holds shares in companies owning and operating UGS facilities, namely ArmRosGazprom (Armenia), Latvijas Gaze (Latvia), WINGAS GmbH (Germany) and VNG AG (Germany).