Gazprom starts taking gas from its underground storage facilities

MOSCOW. Nov 20 (Interfax) - Gazprom started taking gas from its underground storage facilities with the seasonal decrease of the air temperature on the territory of the Russian Federation.

Gazprom Transgaz Stavropol LLC said booster compressor stations of the gas transportation company had been put in the mode for taking gas from the Stavropol underground storage facility, one of Gazprom's largest storage facilities.

"They have already taken and sent to gas trunk pipelines some half a billion cubic meters of gas," the corporate media outlet Gazovy Forpost reported.

"Gas from the underground storage facility goes to trunk gas pipelines and is distributed depending on the mode of the gas transportation system. Additional gas flows are meeting the fuel needs of residents of the Northern Caucasus and the South Caucasus republics," the report said.

All necessary preparations that ensure smooth operation of all systems of the stations were done on Booster Compressor Station 1 and Booster Compressor Station 2 by the beginning of the season. Technical maintenance, current and general overhauling, and diagnostic work were done on the production facilities to boost reliability of the equipment. Booster Compressor Station 1 and Booster Compressor Station 2 will be working in the gas-taking mode until the end of the heating season.

According to earlier reports, an operational gas reserve of 72.842 billion cubic meters was formed in the system of Gazprom's underground storage facilities by the beginning of the season. The potential maximal daily productivity of the Russian storage facilities has reached a level of 858.8 million cubic meters.