Novak: Russia focused on connecting UGSS with pipelines in country's East 'ASAP'

MOSCOW. Sept 6 (Interfax) - Russia is focused on connecting the unified gas supply system (UGSS) with pipelines in the country's East "as soon as possible", Deputy Prime Minister Alexander Novak said in an article in the "Energy Policy" publication.

"In order to meet the needs of the domestic market for natural gas, large-scale operations are underway to develop the UGSS in Russia's East. The plans are to connect the gas transportation systems of Power of Siberia and Sakhalin-Khabarovsk-Vladivostok with the UGSS as soon as possible. Gazprom and the Energy Ministry are also working jointly on the matter of expediting the construction of a gas pipeline connector between the pipelines of Power of Siberia and Sakhalin-Khabarovsk-Vladivostok," Novak said.

"The priority plans include developing gas-supply infrastructure for the Komsomolsk industrial hub and the city of Vladivostok, as well as expediting the commissioning of the Yuzhno-Kirinskoye gas condensate field on the shelf of Sakhalin Island," Novak added.

Novak said that one of the key tasks was to expand the gasification program. "This implies including the highest possible number of the country's constituent entities in it [the gasification program], including the Republic of Buryatia, the Republic of Tuva, the Trans-Baikal Territory, the Krasnoyarsk Territory, the Amur Region, the Irkutsk Region, and the Jewish Autonomous Region."

Yuzhno-Kirinskoye is Gazprom's largest gas field in the country's Far East, with over 600 billion cubic meters of B1+B2 commercial gas reserves, and expected output of 21 bcm of gas per year.