Gazprom Mezhregiongaz Perm might reduce gas sales 16% in 2013
PERM. Jan 30 (Interfax) - LLC Gazprom Mezhregiongaz Perm, a subsidiary of Russian gas giant Gazprom that supplies natural gas to all types of consumers in Perm Territory, plans to deliver 7.1 billion cubic meters of gas to customers in 2013, down from 8.4 bcm in 2012, company chief executive Yevgeny Mikheyev told reporters on Tuesday.
The company's gas sales in Perm Territory could therefore drop 15.5% this year.
"We have increased the share of delivers to IES, but have lost E.ON Russia and Uralkali . We will now fight for points of growth," Mikheyev said.
He said the company expects gas sales to IES to increase further, and for the Metafraks chemical plant to increase gas consumption by about 500 mcm per year due to the construction of new production facilities.
Gazprom Mezhregiongaz Perm now has a 49% share of the regional gas market, leading Russian independent gas producer Novatek also has 49% and other suppliers have 2%, Mikheyev said.
Power company E.ON Russia completely switched to buying gas from independent producers starting in 2013, while potash giant Uralkali switched to Novatek.
TGK-9 , a power generating company that is part of the IES group, signed a gas supply contract with Gazprom Mezhregiongaz Perm to the end of 2017 worth up to 70.242 billion rubles.
Gazprom Mezhregiongaz Perm plans to increase its investment program by 80% in 2013 to 1.4 billion rubles, Mikheyev said.
He said the money would be spent on construction of gas pipelines between towns, and the completion of a liquefied gas plant.
There are also plans to build the first two compressed natural gas filling stations in Perm. They are scheduled to open in September-October.
Gazprom might expand the number of CNG filling stations in the region if they pay for themselves. This means they must operate at 100% capacity, carrying out 50 refueling operations per day.
It was reported earlier that the project to build a liquefied gas plant in Perm Territory with capacity of 11.3 mcm per year would cost an estimated 700 million rubles. The plant is expected to open in the second half of 2013.
Gazprom Mezhregiongaz Perm is a unit of LLC Gazprom Mezhregiongaz, which is wholly owned by Gazprom.
