Gazprom signs contracts worth 256 bln rubles to buy pipes, doubles overall procurement in 2022
MOSCOW. June 13 (Interfax) - The Gazprom group doubled overall procurement in 2022 thanks partly to major orders for large-diameter pipes, the Russian gas giant said.
"The total volume of competitive bidding and market research doubled in 2022," it said in a Social Impact Report. "This was possible thanks partly to signing contracts worth more than 256 billion rubles with large-diameter pipe manufacturers," the report said.
The Russian large-diameter pipe market has four main players: Severstal's Izhora Pipe Plant, Zagorsk Pipe Plant, United Metallurgical Company's Vyksa Steel Works and TMK with its Volzhsky and Chelyabinsk pipe mills.
Gazprom said 15,400 contracts worth 919.1 billion rubles were signed in 2022 as a result of bidding and marketing research, compared with 11,700 in 2021. Savings for the group totaled 35.6 billion rubles, compared with 29.9 billion rubles in 2021.
Gazprom said in its annual report that its Central Procurement Office and Budget Committee achieved a price reduction of 14% of initial prices as the result of a review of the price rationale of contracts and supplementary agreements with single suppliers.
Last March, Gazprom announced that its procurement and that of its subsidiaries would be conducted in a non-competitive way using Gazprombank's Electronic Trading Platform (ETP GPB). Namely, in the form of "closed market research," which, according to Gazprom's procurement regulations, are a form of non-competitive procurement.
"In 2022, due to foreign political developments and increased sanctions pressure, the procurement procedure underwent certain changes," Gazprom said in its report on the company's social performance. "The posting of information on purchases and suppliers in the Unified Information System for Procurement (UIS) was suspended. Information on procurements by companies subject to sanctions and restrictive measures was posted in the EIS and on Gazprombank's Electronic Trading Facility (ETF) and was available to potential participants registered on ETF, except for foreign legal entities".
According to Gazprom, as of the beginning of this year the number of companies participating in the prequalification system and companies included in the register of potential participants in procurement topped 1,000 organizations (881 in 2021). Of these, 71% are small and medium enterprises (632 SMEs last year).
At the end of last year, the group's companies signed contracts with SMEs totaling 468 billion rubles (248 billion rubles in 2021). Of these, 9,900 contracts worth 354 billion rubles were concluded based on the results of competitive procurement and market research.