Gazprom sees no reason to limit gas supply in Russia
MOSCOW. Feb 9 (Interfax) - Gazprom sees no reason to impose its so-called Schedule 1 for industrial users in Russia and limit gas supplies.
"We see no economic or technical reasons for Schedule 1," Valery Golubev, Gazprom's deputy CEO, told reporters.
"Of course if we get minus 45 [degrees] throughout Russia then some measures will have to be taken, but the sun is shining today," he said.
"We've made pretty good preparations for the winter. We've been producing more gas. We've put more gas into storage, enabling us to tap an extra 25 million cu m per day. Gazprom is capable of keeping Russian consumers fully supplied with gas. Winter is already at an end. Peak consumption has passed," Golubev said.
Last year, Gazprom limited supplies to the majority of Russian consumers under milder temperatures, but it also exported significantly more gas than at present.
Gazprom said that it is exporting the necessary contracted minimum amounts of gas, but this is still lower than the operative applications from purchasers in Europe. Italy currently has a Russian gas shortfall of 11% per day, whereas last week the gap approached 30%.
