Gazprom produces 2 bcm more gas than planned in Q1
MOSCOW. April 11 (Interfax) - Gazprom produced 142.6 billion cubic meters of gas in Q1 2010, 2 bcm more than planned, the Russian gas monopoly's chief, Alexei Miller, said at a meeting.
Gazprom measures its own output according to International Financial Reporting Standards (IFRS) and its data differ from that given by the Central Dispatching Department of the Fuel and Energy Complex (CDU TEK), which has said Gazprom produced 141.5 bcm of has in the quarter.
"This figure corresponds to output in Q1 2010, when Gazprom saw a sharp increase in gas consumption following the global crisis. Today we can safely say that the trend for demand to increase will be robust in the long term" Miler said.
Miller said domestic gas consumption was still considerable, and that supplies to Russian consumers topped 103 bcm in Q1 2011.
Exports, including to FSU countries, and liquefied gas shipments from Sakhalin-2 jumped 30% year-on-year in Q1 to 73 bcm from 57 bcm. Demand and consequently imports by non-CIS countries rose an estimated 12% to 44.1 bcm from 39.4 bcm.
Miller said spot prices for gas in Europe had caught up with and even exceeded contract prices in the last year: contract prices were $293 per thousand cubic meters and exceeded spot by 50% in Q1 2010, but the difference had narrowed to 8% and contract and spot prices were now $346 and $320, respectively. At times, spot prices had risen as high as $400 in Europe. In other words, pegging some of the gas sold under contract by Gazprom to spot prices could backfire on the European partners that want this, Miller said.
Miller said the Q1 2011 results vindicated management's forecast for gas demand. "Practice has again shown that only supplies under long-term contracts are capable of ensuring the necessary balance between gas producers and consumers. There's no doubt that the future for Gazprom promises growth in gas supplies in all areas of the market based on the existing system of long-term export contracts," Miller said.
