-In connection with the development of the “Yamal” mega-project, the construction of the North Stream pipeline and the need for more reliable gas supplies to consumers in the Northwest region, the development of the pipeline grid in northern and Northwest Russia is becoming of special importance, Gazprom Deputy Aleksandr Ananenkov said on Tuesday.
In a meeting devoted to the development of pipelines in the region, the Gazprom leader especially underlined that that the Nord Stream project now stands first in the line of regional priorities. According to plans, the first deliveries of gas through the pipeline will be made in September 2011, a press release from Gazprom reads.
The meeting participants, many of them leaders of key Gazprom subsidiaries, also discussed progress in the construction of the pipelines Pochinki-Gryazovets, the Gryazovets-Vyborg, CRTO-Torzhok and Bovanenkovo-Ukhta. All this projects are proceeding on schedule, Ananenkov maintained.
On the agenda was however not another of Gazprom’s priority projects. The Shtokman field in the Barents Sea and the planned pipeline from Murmansk to Volkhov near Sankt Petersburg was not even mentioned in the meeting. According to plans, at least 50 percent of the 3,8 trillion cubic meters of Shtokman gas is to be sent through the pipeline to central Russia and the abroad The Murmansk – Volkhov gas pipeline will make it possible to deliver gas from the Shtokman field to consumers in northwestern Russia and to export gas via the North Stream project. The projected capacity of the 1,365-km-long Shtokman pipeline will be 28–50 bcm depending on production volumes.
As reported by BarentsObserver, the Shtokman Development AG in February this year announced that it will postpone the launch of the giant project with three years to 2016.
